Emily Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by theShadowhuntressNymph
Summary: Emily Potter returns to Forks and her adopted father Charlie before she heads out on her journey to hunt down Horcruxes. What was supposed to be a simple summer ends up only complicating her plans for the coming year but come hell or high water Emily is still determined to end Voldemort's reign of terror in England.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or Harry Potter, the worlds and characters belong to the lovely JK Rowling and Stephanie Meyer.**

 **AN: This story was playing around in my head after watching Twilight a few nights ago. The updates will be once or twice a week.**

As Emily approached the large house hidden away in the surrounding woods of Forks, she cursed her dad for sending her here. She had just been settling in when he had called to request she pick up her sister, though Emily used the term sister lightly, they were not related by blood or marriage and had never gotten along. It seemed Bella's truck had broken down and she was spending the day with her boyfriend. For all Emily cared Bella could stay here but she knew her father would not appreciate it if she returned without the older girl.

Knocking on the door Emily tried to push away her annoyance and remind herself why she had even come home to Forks. You see Emily was no ordinary human she was a witch. For the last six years she had attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. Her schooling was anything but normal even by wizarding standards. Each year it seemed she found herself in more dangerous situations as the Dark Lord Voldemort sought to gain power and acquire Emily to stand at his side or kill her in the process. Coming home was her way of stepping away from the violence and giving her farther one last normal summer should she not succeed in her plans for the coming year.

The door before her swiftly opened drawing Emily's attention away from her thoughts. Before her stood a beautiful woman with pale skin and eyes a very rare amber color, so rare she instantly knew what stood before her... a vampire. Her annoyance quickly turned to humor as she realized her dad had forgotten to mention this small detail and was probably laughing as he imagined her reaction to the news.

"May I help you," the woman asked looking a bit perplexed. Emily supposed not many humans ventured to the vampire's door besides perhaps the occasional delivery man.

"Hi, I'm Emily Potter, my father Charlie sent me to pick up my sister Bella."

"I didn't realize Bella had a sister," the woman frowned slightly, "my name is Esme won't you come in."

Esme opened the door wider to allow Emily entry. The home itself was incredibly open, not something Emily would expect from Vampires who lived among humans. She supposed their house was hidden enough that it allowed them more freedom and if they were somehow exposed the human would stand no chance of leaving the premises anyway.

As Emily entered a large sitting room she was greeted by several stoic vampires, all in various positions attempting to look natural but to her they were failing. She already knew their secret but had no want to put any of them at ease for the moment. A blonde man with shoulder length hair titled his head slightly and smirked as if he too felt her amusement. A pixie looking girl sat stiffly next to him with a slightly dazed look on her face and Emily got the distinct impression that while she was physically present, mentally she was elsewhere for the moment. Esme made her way over to the third occupant of the room, he had short blonde hair and the same amber eyes as the others. He stood next to the fireplace and smiled at her. He seemed more relaxed than the others and Emily guessed he most likely spent more time around humans than the rest of his coven.

"Emily, this is my husband Carlisle and two of our children Jasper and Alice. We have two more, Emmett and Rosalie, who went camping a few nights ago to celebrate their recent graduation, we expect them home quite soon. Our youngest is Edward, he went on a hike earlier. He didn't tell us Bella was going with him but I guess perhaps we shouldn't be surprised." This earned a low scoff from the male blonde she now knew to be Jasper, his face quickly turned impassive at the look of disapproval on Esme's face.

Carlisle laughed drawing Emily's attention to him, "They are always together it seems, but whom might you be?"

Emily wanted to roll her eyes at the ploy, she had studied enough about vampires to know that anyone in the house had heard her speak to Esme at the door. She also knew that the vampires in the house were the muggle kind, while ultimately more dangerous than the well known magical vampire they had very little knowledge if any of the magical world and she wasn't feeling up to a big game of show and tell today. "I'm sorry to intrude but my father is Charlie Swan, he informed me that Bella needed a ride home since her truck is being fixed."

"I wasn't aware Chief Swan had another daughter but why don't you sit down while we wait for Edward and Bella to return from their hike."

Emily nodded her head and chose to sit in the white leather chair across from the couch where Jasper and Alice sat. She noticed Alice appeared to have finally come out of whatever trance she had been in and began to frown seemingly unsatisfied with whatever she had been focused on.

"Dude, who has the Audi Q5 outside?" Emily looked over at the door as a huge muscular vampire entered the room with a large smile on his face. He threw himself onto the other end of the couch his "siblings" were on as a gorgeous blonde woman followed him into the room sitting herself daintily on his legs.

"That would be me," Emily offered raising her hand slightly.

"And who are you?" the blonde sniffed. She reminded Emily of Draco when he was playing his role as the proper Malfoy scion. She shook her head before her thoughts could drift too far on her best friend. They both had a part to play and for the moment she had to trust that all was well and focus on the present.

"Rosalie," Esme chastised the woman. "This is Emily she is Bella's sister."

"No offense but I don't see the resemblance and Bells has never mentioned you before..." the oversized vampire announced. While Esme looked scandalized by his words and quickly called out his name. Emily waved off her worry. She could tell the man, she now knew to be Emmett, truly hadn't meant it to be rude he just was confused and had spoken before he could think about his words.

"Well I'm not surprised really, Charlie adopted me was I was a baby. My parents had been killed and having been recently abandoned by Renee he took me in seeing as I was the child of two of his closest friends. Bella and I are not related in any way."

The women seemed sad at her announcement but Emmett still seemed confused, "If the Chief adopted you why haven't we met you before?"

This time no one tried to stop Emmett's questioning and instead looked at her curiously. "My parents were English and met when they attended the same boarding school. It was their wish that I would one day attend their alma mater as well. When I turned 11 my father sent me off for my first year. The last two years I have had to remain in England over summer vacation and my father would visit me there. This summer I decided to come home and spend as much time with him as I could before I go back to finish my final year of schooling."

Carlisle nodded, "I spent my childhood in England, I remember for some families boarding schools were a very big part of their traditions."

"So you're our age?" the pixie girl asked leaning forward.

Emily laughed which seemed to only confuse those around her, she highly doubted her age even came close to the others in the room. "I'm sorry, I'm 16. I'll be 17 on July 31st. I'm a year younger than Bella."

"But you said you were starting your final year of school..." Alice pressed.

"Schooling is different in England." Emily said with a slight shrug. It was true, she wasn't lying, of course the school system was different they just didn't need to know how different her education truly was.

There seemed to be an awkward pause as no one really knew what to say next. Luckily they were interrupted when they were joined by another vampire entering the room from the double doors to the right of the fireplace. He had a coppery color to his hair and his eyes were a lighter amber then the rest of his family, Emily could only guess he had recently fed. His attention moved from her to Carlisle before his body tensed and his face held a scowl.

Esme smiled at Emily and introduced the newcomer, "This is our son Edward though it seems as if Bella is not with him."

"No, she's not." His words were almost growled out.

Emily was confused by his behavior but brushed it off maybe he wasn't comfortable around most humans. "Well do you have any idea where she might be because she told my father she was coming here..."

"The reservation," he bit out. Saying the words seemed to enrage him further, his hands balled into tight fists so tight Emily was sure his hand might crack under his own strength.

Deciding it best if she left now that Bella was not here she stood from her seat. "Thank you for letting me come in while we waited but I think I'm going to head home now."

"Alright dear, if you head to the reservation you'll likely find her at the Black's," Esme said walking towards her.

"If Bella is on the reservation then she will be finding her own way home," Emily said without thinking and instantly regretted it as every eye in the room looked at her strangely even Edward seemed to relax a bit confused by her statement.

"Do you not like the reservation? A lot of the locals enjoy the beaches down there."

Emily smiled at Esme and decided to give the vampires a little bit of the truth, "I am sure you are aware of the dangers the reservation holds. I refuse to be around those dogs."

"At least someone has some sense," Rosalie muttered causing Emily to smirk as she turned and headed to the door leaving some very confused vampires behind her.

As the door shut behind the human the vampires all remained still, listening as she made her way to her car and drove off.

"She knows about the wolves," Edward said perplexed still staring at the spot the girl had been standing in. He had heard his family caution him on his approach to the house that a human was there claiming to be Bella's sister. While the girls both had dark hair Edward couldn't really see any similarities other than... "I can't read her mind either."

"Odd, the girls are not related by blood, Emily claims to have been adopted by Charlie." Carlisle stated. _How strange that they both can block you, it is obviously not a genetic trait they share... Is the silence the same?_

Edward shook his head, "No, Emily's mind is not completely silent I hear faint hissing..."

"Do you think she knows about us?" Emmett asked pulling everyone's attention away from Edward and Carlisle. "I mean if she knows about the wolves then she could easily know what we are."

Everyone froze, could the human have known what they were? She had seemed so calm surely she wouldn't have been so if she knew their true nature.

"She won't go to the reservation because she knows what they are, why then would she willingly sit here with us?" Jasper reaffirmed hoping to calm everyone in the room down. Their fear had spiked at the thought of a human knowing their true nature which amused him to some degree because hadn't they already thrown that rule out the window when Edward revealed himself to Bella a few months ago.

Edward growled in warning at his brother, "She guessed I didn't tell her."

"But you didn't separate yourself from her, you kept hanging around her which only encouraged her. You could have let the van kill her and be done with it, instead you chose to reveal yourself and us."

Edward rushed at the empath who quickly stood ready to fight. The hit never came though as Rosalie stood and crossed in front of Jasper to get to the stairs giving Edward a shove before he could reach their brother. As Edward flew into the wall cracking the plaster with the impact the room was stunned into silence at Rosalie's pronouncement, "I like her."

As Emily pulled up to her house she noticed the cruiser sitting out front and got excited. Parking her new car in the driveway she ran to the door where her dad was already waiting and threw herself into his arms. She hadn't seen him for months and she relished being in his strong arms far away from England and the rest of her worries.

"Missed you kiddo," he whispered kissing the top of her head.

"I missed you too," she said giving her dad one more tight squeeze before releasing him.

"Fancy new ride you got there," Charlie whistled in appreciation before leading Emily back into the house.

"You know Draco, he wanted to help me pick out a car and he just doesn't understand how not to do flashy. This was the compromise we came up with and I actually really like it."

Chuckling Charlie nodded his head in understanding. His daughter's best friend had always been given the best in life and he sometimes wondered how the boy would fair in this modest muggle town, perhaps one day he would visit with Emily and he could watch his reaction first hand. "How is Draco?"

The smile on Emily's face disappeared, "He's gone silent for the next few days. We had to say goodbye on the train, Cissa is supposed to contact me through the mirrors to update me soon. She's allowed more freedom than he will be for a while."

"So you kids are really going through with your plan?"

"We're not really kids dad, it's not like we are fighting off trolls in bathroom anymore the dangers are far more formidable now."

"Trolls were dangerous enough," Charlie grumbled as he settled into his favorite chair. His daughter seemed amused with him even laughing a bit as she curled up on the couch. She would never understand that it didn't matter how old she got she would always be a child to him. He knew she was no longer the baby he had flown to England to retrieve, quite the contrary she was an incredibly smart and beautiful girl who likely had boys falling at her feet but it didn't change his mind that she would never be old enough to face the evil she continued to face year after year. "I guess I just wish there was a way I could help you, and don't think I don't know you haven't told me everything. Things are much worse then you let on I'm guessing."

"I can't tell you everything for your safety. People may not know where I disappear to when I'm not at Hogwarts but that doesn't mean they won't ever find out."

Deciding to table the discussion for now Charlie just shrugged, "Well where's your sister?"

"Not with the vampires Mr. Sneaky..."

"I couldn't help myself, I'm guessing you pretended not to know what they are."

"Of course but the real question is does Bella know what they are, her boyfriend seemed quite upset when he realized she must be at the reservation."

"The wolves hate the vampires, it's been a problem between Billy and me since they moved back to Forks. Bella has to know after her little stunt right before prom but I doubt she's discovered the Quileute's secret. She spends most of her time down there when she's not with the Cullens."

"Well she can have the mutts," Emily yawned as she pulled the blanket off the back of the couch to cuddle into. She had flown on a muggle plane to try to throw off anyone who could possibly be looking for her. Muggle transport would be the last way people would expect her to travel but in having to do so she was facing jet lag. She would need to brew some pepper up potion to help her as her body readjusted to the new time zone in the morning.

"Why don't you take a nap kiddo," Charlie said reaching for his remote. "I'll wake you when the pizza gets here."

Emily couldn't help but smile. Pizza was a treat she only ever got when with her dad, it was certainly not a popular food among the wizards. She pumped her fist in excitement before cuddling deeper into the couch when her father announced he even had diet coke in the fridge for her. She had really missed being home.

Emily laid on the fur rug in front of her fireplace enjoying the heat it gave off. Dinner had been a quiet affair, her father was annoyed to put it lightly. Bella had called and upon his reminder that Emily had returned home, quickly informed him she would be staying overnight with the pixie looking vampire, she was just having "too much fun". Of course the girl had no idea that her father knew the statement to be false.

Her father had seemed more upset at Bella's silent refusal to welcome her home than the blatant lie she had told him about where she was. If Emily was honest she wasn't surprised Bella didn't rush home to greet her, the girls had never gotten along both resenting the other but for very different reasons. Emily would never forgive Bella for the pain she caused their father over the years and Bella would never forgive Emily for "taking her place". Each felt slighted and the less they saw of each other the better.

Hearing a peck at the window Emily stood to let in her owl. To others it must seemed odd to have an owl for a pet but to Emily Apollo was a great companion. "I set up your perch by the bookshelves. There's a few treats and some water waiting for you."

As Apollo flew over to his perch Emily swore she saw movement in the trees that lined the back of the house. Her father had warned her that Edward had taken to staying with Bella as she slept at night. The two thought the man had no idea but they seemed to forget old houses creek and that their voices could still be heard through the thin old walls.

Shaking her head Emily closed the window and reapplied the silencing charms. While Bella may forget simply facts, Emily did not and being a witch certainly helped her to keep sounds she made restricted to her own room while still being able to hear the sounds made from outside of it. She didn't fancy waking her dad if she had one of her nightmares, plus with the time difference it was likely she would be making many late night mirror calls with Cissa to keep her updated on the situation in England. Knowing her father he would likely attempt to eavesdrop, not because he didn't trust her but because he worried for her safety. Something she worried just as much about for him, he may not like how vague she was with him at times but it was for his own good.

As Emily moved to climb on her bed she heard the telltale creek of the window opening in Bella's room and almost laughed out loud before an idea struck her. Opening her bedroom door she silently made her way to the room where the vampire stood glaring at the empty bed.

"She's not coming home tonight."

Startled Edward seemed to fight the urge to jump out the window not wanting to give away his abilities most likely Emily assumed. "She's likely staying with the Blacks, though when she called she claimed to be with your sister." Other than the darkening of his eyes the vampire made no move to talk or leave the room. She almost felt a bit of pity for the boy perhaps she should toss him a bone. "Oh Merlin, come on, if you are going to stand in the house pouting all night why don't you do it in my room so my father doesn't find you and attempt to burn you for being in Bella's room after dark."

Turning and heading back to her room she wasn't sure if the vampire would follow but a few minutes later he walked in her room only to freeze as he looked around himself in shock, "How..."

"Magic," Emily replied from where she sat on her bed giving him a little wave with her fingers. She was rather enjoying the poor boy's confusion. Her room was a wonderful feat of magic far too large for the size of the house and Emily had even added her own bathroom, she didn't really fancy the idea of sharing one with her dad and Bella. She was rather pleased with her charm work. The walls were a dark grey in color with white crown molding, she had a large stone fireplace and a very large wall of black bookshelves which housed the many magical tomes she had collected over the years.

"I... but magic's not real."

"Maybe to you but it's very real to me," she teased pointing her finger at the abandoned book on her floor, instantly it rose off the floor and glided to her. Grabbing it she placed the book on her bedside table winking at the dazed vampire as she did so.

"You knew, earlier today, you knew what we were and said nothing. Just now I followed you because you mentioned he'd burn me..."

"Very astute Edward, though I thought I had given myself away there at the end with my dog comment."

"Does Bella know about... this," the vampire seemed to be struggling to get a handle on what he was being shown.

"No and she never will. It's not her place and it is against our laws to inform muggles of what we are."

"But she's your sister."

Emily laughed at the statement, "Bella and I are barely acquaintances. She came for a few weeks each summer when we were little before she started refusing to come at all. She said if my father wanted to see her he could leave me at home and take her someplace warm, she vehemently hates Forks... and me," she added with a shrug. "Dad refused to leave me alone which meant we never saw her except for the few trips to Phoenix we made over the years. When she moved up here a few months ago dad was shocked and I was away at school."

"That doesn't... it just doesn't sound like her." The vampire seemed to sink into sitting on the edge of her bed still warily looking around as if he was trying to accept what he was hearing. "Does Charlie know?"

"This would be a really hard secret to keep from someone who raised you, if he hadn't already known he knew for sure the first time I turned his mustache pink and summoned my bottle to myself." Edward looked at her in slight disbelief but all she could do was smile. She still turned his mustache pink at times, it was a prank she would never get tired of no matter how old she was. Pointing her finger at the vampire she then instructed him to go look in her bathroom mirror.

She followed after him leaning against the door frame and laughing as the once copper headed boy ran his fingers through his bubblegum pink hair. "It suits you."

Throwing her a slight glare in the mirror the vampire turned his attention back to his head. "This is crazy..."

"Yes well the same could be said about your very existence as well," Emily teased before returning the boy's hair back to its normal hue of copper and returning to her room. When Edward came back after a few moments she patted the space next to her on the bed inviting him to join her.

"Is magic how you knew what we were?" Edward asked as he sat on her bed as she had motioned him to do and faced her.

"I've studied magical creatures of all kinds, but yes at school I was taught about vampires. I have even met a few though they've all been magical, I've never met a muggle vampire before today."

"Muggle vampire?"

"Meaning you had no magic before being turned. You are much more durable then your magical counterparts though, unlike them you do not need sleep, you cannot eat any food, your eyes change color based on your blood source and you are not weakened by the sun you simply sparkle." He seemed to nod his head in understanding and Emily wondered if he had ever encountered a magical vampire before.

"Is magic why you don't smell like food? You smell appealing but I have no desire to drain you." Edward quickly looked at his hands in his lap, Emily was certain if he could the vampire would be blushing at referring to her as a meal. "I apologize that was rather blunt of me."

"I'm not offended," Emily said reaching out and covering the vampire's hands. "Believe me people have said far worse things to me. Being categorized as a possible meal doesn't even make the list. It's only natural for you, you're main food source is blood and from what I understand magical blood is like no other to taste. At least if Sanguini is to be believed my blood would give you an incredible high while filling you up far faster than a mere human could. I honestly don't have an answer though for why I don't smell like your next meal."

Emily worried about the vampire as he continued to stare at her hand resting on his. Suddenly she found her hand resting in his own as he began to pay with it. "You don't feel too warm to me. It's almost as if we are the same temperature..."

Giggling Emily looked the vampire in the eyes, "You are going to get sick of this answer but it's my magic. Magic runs through my very veins intertwining with everything that makes me who I am. It is an energy, a force within me that can build and cause great destruction or great peace."

"Is magic how you knew I was in the house?" he teased not letting go of her hand.

"No you simply seem to forget that old houses make noises and the windows creek when opened." Edward shook his head and smirked before it turned into a frown, once again the vampire appeared seemingly confused as he tried to examine the back of her hand more closely.

"What's this?" Edward was running his fingers over the back of her hand, she instantly knew what he spoke of. She used glamours to hide some of her scars from her father, he didn't need to know just how greatly she had been injured over the years but clearly Edward being more in tune with his senses than her father could feel the scars that were permanently carved into the skin. Sighing she twitched her right hand and allowed her glamour to drop. "I must not tell lies... who would do this?"

"A teacher and I had a disagreement on how we viewed the world back in my fifth year. As punishment she assigned me detentions, this was the outcome of those nights spent in her office."

"A teacher did this to you?"

"It's a very long story, my life is not a simple one by any means. I would however appreciate if you kept the knowledge of this scar to yourself not even my father knows it's there. It's for his own peace of mind that he doesn't know too much, it is already so hard on him knowing he cannot protect me the way he wishes he could because he lacks magic."

Nodding the vampire shocked Emily by bringing her hand up to his lips to lightly kiss the scars. Emily felt a shock run through her as his lips touched her skin, looking into the vampire's eyes she found herself entranced. Neither one of them looked away instead they seemed to be drawn to each other both leaning in until their lips met. Slowly Emily allowed her eyes to close. Raising up onto her knees to get closer to the forever teen Emily wound one of her hands into his hair the other gripped his muscular arm as it encircled her waist holding her body tight to his.

Emily was losing herself, a part of her realize she should be pushing the vampire away, that whatever was happening was some odd form of magic at work but in her selfishness she wanted the closeness of another being if only for the night. She had been through so much this past year including watching her lover die, she needed this moment and she craved to feel Edward's skin against her own.

In the blink of an eye she suddenly found herself laying back on her bed, the covers tossed aside and Edward balanced over her. Arching her chest into him she turned her head and led his lips to her neck. He seemed to pause briefly before sucking lightly on the skin causing her to moan. She reached for the edge of his shirt and started to pull it up, realizing what she wanted Edward ripped the shirt from his back and tossed it to the floor. Her own nightgown was soon to follow. His lips recaptured hers as he pressed his body against hers. She couldn't take it she needed to feel him, with a wave of her hand the rest of their clothing was banished to the floor.

Edward froze above her, she could almost see in eyes his internal struggle. Moving her hands she held his face as she spoke, "You won't hurt me, I'm not as fragile as a normal human." When he didn't move she leaned up to kiss his lips then his cheek and whispered into his ear, "Please Edward, I need you, please don't stop now."

Laying back she moved a bit causing Edward to groan above her, his eyes darkened to black pools and whatever resistance he had seemed to vanish as he lowered his head to kiss her again. Her back arched causing her to call out as he entered her. She gripped tightly to him as he moved within her. As they both came undone Emily was slightly aware enough to be glad she had silencing charms on her room, Edwards loud roar could have woken the whole neighborhood. Tapping his back lightly to make him less heavy Emily encouraged him to stay laying on top of her as he gathered unneeded breaths with his head tucked into her neck.

She could feel her eyes getting heavy as Edward finally rolled off of her and pulled her into his chest. With one last swish of her wrist the covers flew back onto the bed to cover the two as Emily allowed herself to answer Morpheus' call.

 **Ok guys don't hate me, next chapter we get to see Emily interact with Jasper for the first time on a one on one basis. She will also have her first update with Cissa giving you a little more insight into what is happening in England. This story will continue through the whole 7th year and the back story will be closer to that of my story Emily and Harry Potter a Chance for Change. Hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter :)**


	2. Chapter 2

When Emily woke the next morning it was to find herself alone and her window ajar. Edward must have slipped out at some point while she was sleeping. Yawning she sat up in her bed and stretched out her arms. Usually in the summer months Mipsy would have had a cup of coffee waiting for her by her bedside but the elf was back in England so she supposed she would have to venture down to the kitchen to prep her own coffee today.

Grabbing a hair-tie off her nightstand Emily threw her hair up into a ponytail as she walked over to her full length mirror. She had a few bruises on her hips but other than that she had fared well against the vampire's strength. Smirking at her reflection Emily turned away holding out her hand to catch the t-shirt and shorts she had summoned. With 'Slytherin' proudly emblazoned across her chest she made her way downstairs to the kitchen.

"Morning dad," she called cheerfully as she moved to kiss her father's head on her way to the coffee pot.

"Morning kiddo," was the answered grumble from behind the newspaper. "You sure are chipper this morning."

Emily shrugged as she poured the water into the machine and hit the start button. "I guess, I still need to make a pepper up potion because I doubt I can keep this up all day without one."

"Well, the ingredients you had sent here arrived a few days ago. I hid them in that locked cupboard in my room, figured it was the least likely place Bella could stumble upon it."

Nodding her head, Emily hummed in agreement as she pulled down two mugs and filled them with coffee. Passing one of the mugs to her father she made her way to the fridge before groaning at the lack of food inside. "Dad now that Bella lives here please tell me you have at least been keeping the fridge better stocked than this..." She reached forward and pulled down the newspaper that was in front of her father's face and made a show of the mostly empty refrigerator with a wave of her arm.

Charlie's face turned a little pink as he slightly shrugged a shoulder. "Bella eats at the Cullen's house a lot and I can survive on fish or food from the diner."

"One, the Cullen's don't need to eat so how is Bella eating with them? Two, you need more variety then fish and your regular steak and potato dinner from the diner."

"Yeah, yeah I'm doing just fine kiddo." Kicking one of his legs out and back in a few times he grinned at his daughter, "See still kickin'."

Rolling her eyes at her father's antics Emily closed the refrigerator door and sat down at the table. "I think you have spent far too much time around Sirius and Remus over the years."

The two sat in comfortable silence as they finished their coffees. Emily found herself looking out the window into the woods. As a child her and her father had hiked the many trails behind their home. She remembered when she had turned six and late at night the two had ventured down their favorite path to where a little stream ran. There in her favorite spot her father had built her a little fort. He had strung lights up on it and put blankets inside. Together they read the story books Remus had sent her and shared a small cake until they both fell asleep. It had been a few years since she had visited the fort and she wondered if it was still standing. Perhaps that was something she could go do one day when she got bored.

"So how was our late night guest?" her father asked as he set down the last of his newspaper. "I heard him enter but I didn't hear him leave."

"I would suspect he's doing well," Emily said getting up to take her now empty mug to the sink.

"Emily Rose what did you do?" Charlie asked shaking his head. His daughter was always up to some sort of mischief. He even had to place a mirror by his front door so he could be assured that he never went to work with a pink mustache again. Yes he had in fact gone into the station shortly after becoming chief with a pink mustache, it was something he would likely never live down.

"Why do you always assume I did something?" Emily countered as she made her way to the doorway and leaned on the frame crossing her arms. "And what could I possibly have done to a vampire?" At her father's raised eyebrow she shrugged and pushed herself away from the door. "I'm going to get ready and head to the store so this house is properly stocked. Stop worrying, I didn't do much."

"Why don't I believe you..."

Emily laughed at her father's statement as she quickly took the stairs up to her room and shouted back to him, "Because you know me too well!"

The local Forks grocery store was a very small place. Emily had already been stopped three times by the locals to chat about her return for the summer. The town was all a buzz that 'little' Emily had once again returned home to Forks. She smiled and answered a few questions trying to be as polite as she could but to be honest most of the muggles in the town drove her a bit mad. Making an escape quickly down the dairy isle from her latest chatty Kathy Emily found herself almost running someone over.

"I'm sorry," she rushed out only to be met by the smirking face of a vampire.

"Not at all ma'am, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going either."

"No, it was my fault. I was trying to run away from another one of the locals. I swear they would talk until my head exploded if I let them."

Chuckling the man nodded his head, "Troubles of living in a small town."

"Yeah, I seemed to have forgot that bit when I volunteered myself to do the grocery shopping."

"To be honest I volunteered myself as well," he said leaning in and raising a hand to slightly cover his mouth. "Your sister is spending the day at our house and Esme needed a few things for her dinner tonight. I was out the door before anyone else could offer." Emily simply raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "I mean not that I'm avoiding your sister... I just..."

Laughing Emily waved for him to stop, "Its fine, I was just teasing you. I don't blame you for volunteering, I would have done the same." Looking over her shoulder Emily noticed a few locals moving towards them. "Jasper correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Why don't you walk with me as I finish my shopping the longer we stand here the more likely we are to get ambushed."

Nodding the vampire followed her around the store making small chat. Emily learned that the man played the guitar and had a great love for history. She mused he wouldn't be as passionate about history if he had Professor Binns as an instructor, that ghost could ruin history for anyone.

Emily could see the vampire hesitate as they headed towards their cars a little bit later, "Jasper, do you want to come over to my house for a while? My dad's at work and with Bella at your house it will be just me around."

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all."

Nodding the vampire helped her load her car and told her he would follow her home.

As Emily parked in the driveway Jasper quickly made his way over to assist her with the groceries. Thanking him they made their way into the house and Emily led him to the kitchen.

"How can I help?" Jasper asked as he set the bags in his arms on the table.

Absentmindedly Emily waved her hand as she took off her coat and the groceries began to unpack themselves. "No need." She placed her coat on the back of a chair and froze when she heard the vampire clear his throat. Her resulting "Oops" was met by a chuckle from the man. Looking over at him he simply raised an eyebrow at her just like she had done to him at the market. "I'm a witch..."

"I can see that."

"I also know what you are." This time she waited for him to be shocked or possibly get angry but all she received was a shrug.

"Comes with being a witch I assume."

"You are taking this a lot better than your brother did."

"I met a few, witches that is, before I joined the Cullens," he answered leaning back against the counter behind him and crossing his arms. "Is this why Edward seemed so off this morning. His emotions were everywhere, I couldn't get a clear read on him."

Emily looked away a little guiltily, that and he had just slept with her, his girlfriend's sister.

"Why do you feel guilty?"

"Empath?" At his nod Emily tilted her head in curiosity reflecting on the emotions she thought she was giving off. "Do I really feel guilty?"

"Mostly you feel shocked, at my reaction is my guess but there is a little bit of guilt there."

"Huh," was her brilliant reply. Did she feel guilty about last night? A part of her did perhaps for Edward but overall she couldn't honestly say she felt guilty for what happened. It was just sex. The man was a vampire he had to of slept with many women before her, right?

It was a few hours later that Charlie came home to find Emily and Jasper sitting on the floor of the living room laughing.

"...I was so annoyed by the pompous twat that I convinced the elves to put a potion in his afternoon tea, the rest of the day whenever he opened his mouth the only thing that came out were various colored bubbles!"

"You did that to one of your teachers? In my day we would have been taken over the knee for even attempting to smile."

Emily nudged the vampire with her shoulder, "Oh please you aren't quite that ancient."

"Well I certainly could not have gotten away with as much as you have."

"My daughter is incredibly sneaky when she wishes, I would even swear shes often up to no good." Charlie laughed as he watched his daughter jump slightly but the young man just turned and smiled at him. The vampire had likely heard his car pull up and was therefore not as surprised at his entrance.

"Chief, how are you sir?"

"I'm well Jasper, are you having dinner with us tonight?"

Emily jumped up and spoke before the boy could answer, "Yes he is."

"I am?" he said looking to Emily a bit perplexed. "But I don't..."

Waving her hand at Jasper she cut him off, "Yeah, yeah I know I'll warm you up some blood."

Staring after the girl as she made her way towards the kitchen he looked over to where the Chief was trying and failing to contain his laughter. "She has blood here?"

"She must," Charlie answered as he moved toward the stairs. "I'm going to head upstairs to change, why don't you go help and keep her out of too much trouble."

Jasper nodded and stood making his way over to join Emily. What a strange day this had been so far, when Bella had called Edward and asked to come over he had been dreading the rest of the day. The plain human drove him crazy, she had pushed her way into their lives with little thought to the repercussions. Shockingly most of his family had welcomed her knowing their secret and went to great lengths to protect her. He and Rosalie seemed to be the only ones who realized just how dangerous the human was to their family. He wondered briefly how they would react to finding out that while they had been busy lying to Charlie and trying to pull the wool over his eyes, it was him that had played the vampires for fools, having known since they moved to forks what they were.

He shook his head of his train of thought as he entered the kitchen, Emily was waving her hands as ingredients and utensils flew about and began preparing the food.

"Is this how you cook all the time?"

"If Bella's around I have to do it the muggle way but she's eating at your house tonight so I'm free to do as I like."

"Speaking of, Esme is going to be upset I never returned with her groceries for Bella's dinner."

"Didn't you say Alice has visions of things, maybe she saw it and someone else went to collect what Esme needed, if not..." Emily shrugged, "oh well. Bella can't be picky if she's choosing to have people who don't even eat cook for her."

Laughing Jasper ducked under a flying onion and took a seat at the kitchen table where he was joined seconds later by Emily. He watched as she flicked her wrist and a diet coke came out of the fridge flying into her hand. It was then that he noticed something curious on her arm. A long scar that had been previously covered by her sleeves was now visible on her forearm. He wondered how she had gotten it but before he could blink it disappeared.

"You okay?" Emily asked the vampire. She knew what he had seen and quickly applied a glamour to cover the scar. She had a feeling with Jasper she wouldn't be able to get away with quick little half-truths and while her dad was still awake she didn't feel like going into great detail about her life.

"I swore I just saw..."

"How's dinner coming?" Charlie interrupted the vampire as he entered the room. "It smells delicious."

"I can't believe you served me blood," Jasper said for the sixth time that night as he followed Emily into her room.

Laughing Emily waved her hand at the fireplace to ignite it and headed towards her bathroom, "Get cozy by the fire I'm going to change out of these jeans."

Quickly Emily disrobed and put on a pair of spandex and a racer back t-shirt. When she walked back into her room it was to find Jasper sitting on the rug in front of the fire, his eyes were closed and he appeared to simply be enjoying the peace of the moment. Quietly joining him Emily laid down on her side with her head propped up by her arm and examined the vampire. He was rather ruggedly handsome, if a vampire could really be rugged at all. He wore a flannel shirt over a v-neck shirt and a more traditional boot cut jean then the popular skin tight ones. She was tempted to reach up and run her fingers through his shoulder length locks.

"So are you going to tell me what I saw on your arm earlier?" the vampire spoke breaking the silence.

"Right to the tough questions," Emily smiled at him as if letting him know she wasn't upset at his question in fact he could feel a slight bit of amusement coming from her, she had likely expected him to bring it up. Her hand twitched and suddenly the scar he had seen on her arm in the kitchen was visible again but as he looked at her he realized it wasn't the only one. Her body had various scars all over including what appeared to be words carved into the back of one of her hands.

Jasper was shocked, not many things could do that to him but he couldn't imagine what had happened to the beautiful woman before him. "How..."

"It's a long story one I don't want others knowing, I'm only going to tell you because I know with your past you will understand."

"I haven't told you much about my past," Jasper said in confusion as he wondered how she could possibly know anything other than what he had briefly mentioned to her earlier.

Sitting up Emily held out her hand towards her nightstand, soon she was holding an old looking book and flipping through the pages. When she seemed to find what she was looking for she handed the tome over to Jasper who couldn't believe what he was seeing. There on the page before him was a picture of himself, the caption read 'God of War'. Looking at Emily he pleaded with his eyes for her to give him some sort of explanation.

"To be honest if I hadn't been reading this book last night I probably wouldn't have ever put two and two together. When I realized there were vampires in town I wanted to freshen up on my facts so I pulled this out. You are rather famous, even in the magical world. You are known as being the strongest muggle vampire alive. In a nut shell it mentions you ruled most of the southern United States and some of Mexico and that you were a ruthless fighter winning countless battles against vast numbers of newborns. I'm guessing the witches you met before joining the Cullens are the reason you ended up in this book."

"That's not me anymore," he whispered looking over at Emily as if willing her to believe him, he was no longer that monster. He would never let himself be that again.

"It wouldn't bother me if it was." Jasper looked at her as if she was crazy but Emily just shrugged, "You can't change who you are or what you're meant to be. I can no more run away from my own destiny than you can stop drinking blood. You do what you have to if it means you survive."

"Your destiny?" Jasper questioned wanting to move the conversation away from himself. He was sure at some point they would come back to the topic but for now they could let it go until he had more time to think on it.

"I know what you're doing but if I tell you my story I expect you to honestly tell me yours," Emily said holding out her hand.

"My story is rather gruesome, far more so than this book could come close to mentioning."

"As is mine, do we have a deal?"

Though Jasper slightly doubted her statement his eyes seemed to once again take in the various scars on her body and that for some reason comforted him, perhaps she could at least partially understand him. Hoping he wouldn't regret it he reached forward and took her hand. "Deal."

Smiling Emily walked over to her door as she summoned her wand. She drew a few runes on the door that seemed to sink into the wood before nodding her head in satisfaction. "There now no one can disturb us nor can we be heard." Moving back towards the fire Emily laid her head on the vampire's leg and stretched her body out on the rug. Jasper stared at the wooden stick she still held in her hand, "It's my wand, twelve inches long made of ebony and purpleheart wood with a phoenix feather core. I can do simple things wandlessly but for more complex magic I still need this."

Flicking her wrist the wand seemingly vanish but the only explanation she offered Jasper was a smile, "Now where were we?"

"I believe you were going to tell me about that scar," he replied pointing to her arm.

"Right well we have to start much farther back, many years ago magical Britain was in turmoil. A Dark Lord was rising to power who believed in the supremacy of magic. He was extremely talented in magic and had great power leading him to believe he deserved to lead a new world order where witches and wizards sat at the top no longer needing to hide in secret communities around the world. He sought to cleanse the magical world of those without 'pure' blood. He hated muggles and took great pleasure in raiding various towns, torturing and killing large amounts of them at a time.

Those who took up arms and followed him were known as Death Eaters. The fear and devastation they created made many fearful to stand against him but there were some who did. My parents were a part of a group who sought to bring him down. My mom soon became pregnant with me and shortly after my birth they were forced to go into hiding. What they never knew was that they didn't stand a chance, one of their closest friends would betray them. The Dark Lord came personally to end my family and he almost succeeded but for some reason when he went to kill me his curse rebounded.

He didn't die but he wasn't truly alive either. But that didn't stop the government from declaring his death and proclaiming me 'the girl-who-lived'.

Charlie soon flew to England and brought me here to Forks. I grew up rather happy but very well aware of what I was. When I was eleven I received my Hogwarts letter and while dad would have rather kept me to himself he knew I had to go back to the magical world, I needed a proper magical education.

Every year I have faced dangers many my age have never known. But the scar you noticed in the kitchen came from my fourth year. It was an incredibly trying year for me. I was a teenager trying to deal with adult circumstances and teenage drama all at the same time.

My school had been selected to host the Tri-Wizard tournament. It was a tournament that had been stopped many years earlier due to the amount of deaths among the participants. They promised that this year would be different, that only those who were 17 and considered adults by wizarding law would be allowed to compete. Two other schools came to compete against us. Each school would have one champion and each champion would face three tasks.

On Halloween night somehow instead of three champions four were chosen. I was one of those four. The school turned against me, they called me a cheat for not being 17 but to be honest at the time I had no idea how I was even entered into the tournament and to make my teenage existence worse my boyfriend at the time who had been chosen as the Hogwarts champion broke up with me for trying to 'steal' his moment.

It was a difficult year, one spent mostly in battle training. I faced off against a dragon which is where this scar comes from," Emily said pointing to a spot on her shoulder. "The dragon's spike just clipped me. I spent an hour under water to rescue a hostage from merepeople and I had to find my way through a maze littered with creatures that were meant to harm me. The scar on my calf just here," she said pointing out another small imperfection on her skin, "came from a cutting curse that was thrown at me by another champion who was being controlled.

Miraculously I made it to the end but my ex had made it there as well. In the end we decided to take the cup together, a joint victory. The second we touched the cup we were transported to a graveyard. It was only mere seconds before Cedric was killed, I had no time to react and being caught off guard I found myself tied to a large gravestone. It had all been a ploy to get to me. The Dark Lord needed me to help him get his body back and despite previous attempts over the past years he finally had me in his grasp. This scar is where the one who betrayed my family forcibly took my blood to help resurrect his master."

"How did you get away?" Jasper whispered he was almost worried that if he spoke any louder he would break the spell of the story he was being told.

"We dueled at first but then he let me go."

"Why would he do that?" Instead of an answer all Jasper received was a slight shrug from Emily who had at some point taken to playing with his hand. She seemed to be tracing half circles on his skin when he realized she must be tracing his scars.

"Are these bites?" Her voice sounded far more subdued then it had earlier and he could sense a great warring of emotions in her. Anger, sadness and regret seeming to be the ones she cycled through the most.

"Venom is the only thing that can leave a mark on us, my whole body is covered in them."

"That seems insane to me, a bunch of these crisscross over each other. I can't even begin to imagine how many battles you must have fought to have so many..."

"My hands and arms are admittedly my worst spots because they were the easiest for a newborn to latch onto."

"How often did you fight them?"

"I didn't just fight them I was also at times their executioner," he looked down expecting her to be disgusted at his words but instead she seemed focused on his hand and he could only feel curiosity coming from her. "I was turned by a vampire named Maria, she was a part of the southern vampire wars at the time. Various newborn armies fought over territory, the more territory the more feeding grounds you had control over. I was her second in command. It was my job to lead and control the newborns in battle and to get rid of them at the end of each year.

It was a hard task at first. I could feel the emotions, the betrayal they felt when I ended their short existence in this life. Every now and then Maria would allow one to live that she saw potential in. One of those happened to be Peter, to this day he is my closest friend. Before him I had become cold and unmerciful. I thrived off the pain and negative emotions of my victims, it spurred me to fight harder. I had no care for the lives I took be they human or vampire but somehow he made me care about him. In fights we watched each others' backs, in the camps we trained together, he even helped me to cull the newborns taking some of my burden away from me.

To be honest I never thought of leaving, I never knew there was another way to live at least not until Charlotte showed up. She was an average newborn one who I knew would never make it passed the year deadline. On the day she was to be killed Peter told her to run, he looked at me and I knew he was about to follow her. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to chase them, I let them go. I was punished severely by Maria for allowing her Captain to get away.

My demeanor quickly returned to its previous ruthlessness, without Peter to help soften me I became the cold killer I once had been. Perhaps I was even more violent than before, taking my anger at Peter out on my victims. It was five years before he returned and when he did I fought him with such anger I'm sure he thought I would end him but I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him even after he abandoned me. As he lay healing he told me of his new life, a nomadic life away from all the fighting. It took him returning three more times before he finally convinced me to go with him.

Unlike him I knew I could not simply walk away, Maria and I had been lovers over the years and I knew her well enough to know she would chase me to the ends of the earth to keep her Major. The night I was to leave I called the newborns in for training. While Maria worked on a plan for her latest conquest, I culled them all then and there before heading to the shack Maria was in. She was on edge having sensed the fire I had just started. We fought I was close to losing until Peter showed up to help.

I traveled around with Peter and Charlotte for a time but I often felt like a third-wheel. Eventually I went my own way and ended up meeting the Cullens I have been with them ever since, living their 'vegetarian' lifestyle."

"So you went from one extreme to the other," Emily commented. "I can't imagine living off animal blood is truly all that satisfying for you."

"It's not but I don't want to be that monster again."

Emily wanted to point out that most vampires drank human blood including it sounded like his friend Peter but she was rather tired, which was made obvious as she quickly pulled her hand away from his to cover her yawn.

"I think it's time I let the human get some sleep." Reluctantly Emily stood and started to move towards the door. "Why don't I use the window, the Chief is already asleep I don't want to wake him."

Emily followed the vampire to her window flicking her wand into her hand she tapped the window a few times before Jasper heard a light click. Pulling the window open he turned to the girl standing next to him. He couldn't remember a time he had enjoyed himself so much, there was something about her that just intrigued him. There was the obvious, she was stunning. She had a heart shaped face with wavy dark brunette hair, and her eyes were a bright green color one he doubted he had ever seen before, he wondered if that was partly due to her magic. He imagined her beauty was rather deceiving, she radiated strength even though her body appeared quite lithe with slight curves to it. Shaking his head he looked out into the darkness before turning to look back at her.

"Don't think I didn't notice you never told me about this destiny of yours," Jasper said with a smirk.

"If I told you everything tonight you may never return," she teased right back.

"I doubt that could be true. I had a wonderful day, thank you for everything darlin'." Leaning forward he brushed his lips lightly against hers before jumping out the window and running into the woods.

Closing the window and resetting her wards Emily turned back to face her room her hand touching her lips. Jasper had just kissed her... before she could think more deeply on that action a bright blue light was emitted from the mirror on her nightstand.

She rushed to pick it up quickly answering the call. "Cissa," she breathed excited to finally see the woman's face. But Emily's joy quickly turned into a frown when she noticed how tired the other looked. "Is everything okay? Is Draco alright?"

"Calm sweet girl, Dragon is as well as can be expected. Everything seems to be going as we had hoped." Emily breathed a small sigh of relief at that news. "How are you doing dear, are you enjoying seeing your father?"

"I'm so glad I'm here but at the same time I worry if it was the wrong choice. Maybe leaving London was a bad idea. I noticed that even this small town had a brief article about the 'terror' attacks in London."

"You need to be there where it is safe, build your strength as much as you can or everything Dragon is risking will be for nothing."

Nodding Emily knew the woman was right. Every step her best friend was taking now was so that she had time to rest, to build strength, to prepare. These next few weeks would ultimately be fleeting in the grand scheme of what was to unfold this coming year. "I'll find some place to practice tomorrow."

"Good now what else have you been up to you look a little flush."

Rolling her eyes Emily began to tell Narcissa about her first two days in Forks and the two very different vampires she had spent her time with, "...and he just jumped out my window when the mirror lit up."

"Well I say don't worry too much about anything right yet. Enjoy it, losing William was a great loss for you but we both know you have to move forward. If it's with a vampire or two so be it."

"Or two?!" Emily choked out. "You think I should see them both? One could very well be across the hall watching my supposed sister sleep!"

"You're a powerful girl, it may just take two strong vampires to help ground all that magic," the older woman said with a wink. What she didn't tell the younger girl was that she wasn't just teasing her she had long known with the power Emily was able to wield there was a high likelihood she could find herself more than one power mate but the girl had enough to worry about for the moment.

"Oh Merlin, aren't you supposed to be the one to tell me to be good and stay away from boys?"

"And we both know it would be far too late for me to warn you away," Narcissia smirked. "I love you and I just want you to relax, Dragon and I will do what we can from here. Luc will join us as soon as he is strong enough as well."

Emily bowed her head feeling like an idiot she had forgotten about Lucius' struggle in her own selfishness, "How is he recovering?"

"Better than was expected though I doubt the Dark Lord will be very kind to him. Dragon and Severus' success is the only reason I believe he's been spared."

"I promise we will end this soon. Have you been in contact with Sirius?"

"It's been very minimal I'm afraid but if I do I will pass along your greetings and update you on their welfare. Now I believe it is high time you went to bed and I need to run anyway."

"Okay, be careful please and pass along my love to Draco if you can."

"I will dear, goodnight."

"Good morning," Emily said with a smile as she canceled the call and placed the mirror by her bed. Curling up under the covers Emily realized she had never needed the pepper up potion she had intended to make that morning.


	3. Chapter 3

Out of breath Emily slowed her pace to a slow jog as her house came back into view. Waking up this morning had been tough, the jet lag seemed to finally be kicking in but she knew she couldn't put off her daily exercise having already forgone it the past couple days due to the term ending and travel. If she wanted to be in her best physical condition she needed to get back into the habits she had started at Hogwarts. So reluctantly she had forced herself from her bed, thrown on some running pants and a sports bra and headed out for a run along the trails behind her house.

Running up the few steps to the back porch Emily swung open the door and almost wanted to vomit from what she found.

"Morning," she deadpanned as she passed Bella who was sitting on Edward's lap eating her breakfast. Edward suddenly seemed to become intensely interested in his girlfriend's hair and refused to even look at Emily.

"Charlie already left," Bella offered as a greeting before taking another bite of cereal.

"I figured, I doubt you do this when dad's around," Emily said motioning to how the couple were sitting. Filling a mug with coffee she quickly set about toasting an English muffin and cutting up some fruit. "I'm going to be upstairs, I have a few things I need to get done this morning. If you need to bother me for some unknown reason, don't."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Wonderful," Emily replied grabbing her breakfast and heading up the stairs to her room.

Bottling up the last of the potions Emily felt rather accomplished for having brewed several of the things she might need while in Forks. Grabbing one of the pepper ups to take now, she waved her hand and the rest of the bottles flew to the new golden bookshelf she had created that morning.

Her stomach grumbled and Emily realized it was likely time she ventured downstairs for lunch. Throwing back the potion she rose from her spot on the floor and headed to the door only to be surprised to find a copper headed vampire outside of it.

"Can I help you?" she asked. She knew she sounded a bit rude but he had left her bed only to return to Bella's side not to mention this morning he hadn't even been able to look at her.

Raising an eyebrow at the boy blocking her way she barely heard him speak, "Your ears are steaming."

"What?"

"Your ears are steaming?" he repeated pointing to the side of her head, the boy looked a bit worried about his observation.

It must seem odd to him she realized. Not many people had steam come out of their heads unless they were a cartoon in the muggle world. "It will stop in a few seconds. Is there anything else I can help you with? I'm sure Bella is wondering where you've gone."

"She's on the phone with Jessica."

"Sounds exciting." The boy seemed uncomfortable with her attitude but she wasn't sure what he had expected to find when he decided to stand outside her door.

"We are going to be heading to my house for the evening, my family's having a movie night and…"

"Have fun," Emily said cutting him off and heading towards the stairs. "Tell Jasper hi for me."

Within the blink of an eye Emily found her way blocked by the vampire. Annoyed she took a step to move around him but he simply mirrored her, after trying several times she gave up and crossed her arms. "Why are you blocking me?"

"He was here yesterday."

"Your sense of smell is spot on, now can you move I'm quite hungry." Emily sighed as the vampire simply stared at her. She felt a slight push on her mental shields and gave a gentle shove back in warning which seemed to make the boy stumble a bit, unfortunately though not enough to get out of her way.

"Why was he here?"

"Because he didn't want to be around Bella, now shouldn't you be getting back to her?"

As if on cue Bella's voice carried up the stairs, "Edward! Where are you?"

Looking as if he were torn the boy looked down the stairs and back at Emily a few times before making a huffing noise and flying down the stairs.

Edward and Bell left at some point while Emily was making her lunch. She was rather pleased with their swift departure because she had a few things she needed to do and having her muggle sister out of the house would be more beneficial. First she needed to find a place to practice and second she needed to check on the wards around the house.

Finishing her lunch she set her dishes to wash themselves and moved away from the table to summon her coat when she was startled by a knock at the door. Grumbling about the nosey neighbor, that was no doubt at the door to welcome her back home, she made her way to the door only to find herself staring at a chuckling vampire.

"Jasper!"

"Howdy ma'am, I was wondering if you wanted to take pity on this poor nosey soldier, you see his house has been invaded…" he looked from side to side as if reassuring himself they wouldn't be overheard before leaning in to finish his sentence with a whispered, "by a human."

"A human?!" Emily responded by covering her mouth, acting properly shocked at the announcement. "Well we can't have that, come in," she said steeping back to allow the blonde to enter the house.

"Thanks darlin'."

"Anytime cowboy, as long as you don't mind tagging along with my various tasks you are more than welcome."

Shrugging Jasper put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the railing, "What's on the agenda for the afternoon?"

"First we are going to go out and check on the wards. I didn't even feel you approach the house so they must not be in great shape."

"Wards?" he asked as Emily started putting on her summoned coat.

"Mmhmm, they're basically invisible barriers around the property."

Jasper looked at her a bit skeptically, "And what do they do?"

"The wards around this house are very basic," Emily said motioning Jasper to follow her as she headed to the back door. "They should alert me if someone enters the property, stop people from apparating in or out and protect against my enemies. Clearly the latter is not working since Bella continues to find her way into the house every night."

Chuckling Jasper continued to follow Emily just inside the tree line behind the house. Climbing over a few fallen branches she made her way over to a small boulder.

"Is it really possible to define who can and cannot enter a property?"

"To an extent," Emily answered now dusting off the boulder. "Doing it to my dad's house would be really hard because he lives in the muggle world and is a large part of their community. Most of the wards I live under back in England I can't apply here."

"Is it common to have wards around homes?" the vampire asked leaning against a tree as he watched Emily run her wand over odd carvings on the stone.

"Not to the extent I am used to but the simple ones yes. Warding is very expensive to have done, not many can afford to hire a Curse Breaker to set them so they rely on the more simple wards that just about anyone can perform."

"Like the ones you have here?"

"No these are a bit more advanced than the usual muggle repelling charms most wizards use."

Jasper frowned, "Then how do you know how to do them, are you a Curse Breaker?"

"My lover was one of the top Curse Breakers for Gringotts Bank back in London. He was ten years older than me…"

"Was?" Jasper asked before looking down a bit ashamed for having interrupted her.

"He was killed before I came to Forks," Emily said not looking up from the stone. She ran her fingers over a few of the runes. Closing her eyes she focused on the dwindling strength of the wards forcing herself not to think on just how she had lost William.

"I met him when I was twelve years old, he was mostly working on dangerous tombs in Egypt and traveling a lot to various European countries for large warding projects the Bank was involved in. He taught me most of what I know."

Jasper was quiet as he watched Emily carve more shapes into the boulder with her wand. She kept glancing up as if she could see something he couldn't before turning her focus back to the stone again.

Not wanting to disturb her further he glanced over into the forest that stretched out behind her. He could hear a deer not too far off and realized he would need to hunt soon, the cup of blood Emily had served him the night before had helped but it wasn't enough to fill him. He was glad being around Emily didn't tempt him but Charlie still did and he didn't think Emily would find it endearing if he were to try and take a bite out of the man.

"…do you mind?" Emily's words drew Jasper's attention back to her. She must have noticed he hadn't been paying attention because she repeated herself. "I need to cut my hand, do you mind?"

Noticing the vampire's confusion at her announcement she decided to elaborate. "To tie the wards to myself and strengthen them to their fullest I need to add a bit of my blood. Will that bother you?"

Shaking his head slowly as if thinking it over Jasper answered her, "If it was anyone else I would say yes but I don't have any urge to drink your blood, I should be fine."

Nodding Emily pointed her wand at her hand making a short slice on her palm. Touching the stone she smeared her blood over the runes which began to glow. Jasper found himself shocked as a dome materialized but just as quickly as it appeared it vanished.

"Looks like it worked," Emily said making her way around the boulder to Jasper's side. Holding out her injured hand she smirked at the vampire, "Want a taste?"

Before she could register it she felt a cold tongue run along her cut. Looking at her palm she watched as the venom from his saliva healed her wound before looking at the blonde whose eye were closed in contentment. "I take it, that I taste good then?"

"Very," the vampire said opening his eyes to look at hers. "Best I've ever had."

Laughing Emily slightly shoved Jasper's shoulder, who for her benefit pretended to lose his balance.

"Well then, maybe I'll give you another taste later," she added winking at the man as she started back towards the house.

"Don't tempt me woman," he called as he jogged to catch up to her. "You are something else you know that."

"Something good or something bad?"

"I'm not sure I care," he answered softly. Emily gave him an odd look before shaking her head and continuing up the back steps of the house.

"Well how about this, if _you're_ good I'll put a muggle repelling ward around your house to keep out Bella."

Speeding up to open the door for her Jasper chuckled at the image of Isabella being stuck at the end of the Cullen's driveway stamping her foot as she stood outside of the hideous truck that she insisted on driving, unable to get any closer. Running a hand through his hair he followed Emily into the house and up the stairs. "I doubt most of the family would be pleased with you for that but Rosalie on the other hand may just kiss you. She can't stand Bella."

"Then maybe we need to start inviting Rosalie around here. It seems like though Bella lives here she's never actually home."

Sitting on the edge of Emily's bed Jasper watched as she went into the bathroom, a few clothes flying after her. "She might like that actually. Since Edward started bringing Bella to the house it feels like our one place of peace is no longer ours. We always have to watch how quickly we move or how much noise we make in the night."

"Why did Edward do that if it makes you all so uncomfortable?" Emily asked leaning her head out of the door to the bathroom. "I need to take a shower, I went on a run and spent my morning brewing I feel a bit gross you're welcome to come sit in here so we can talk."

Emily's head disappeared back into the bathroom and Jasper hesitated on following her in. Once he heard the shower start he decided to stop being such a coward and made his way to the bench under the window. The shower Emily stood in was made of fogged glass he couldn't see her clearly but it gave him enough of an idea. Coughing a little as if to clear his throat he adjusted himself and tried to look anywhere but at the shower.

"So why does Edward take Bella to the house if you guys don't like it?" Emily asked again obviously having heard him.

"To be honest Rosalie and I are the only ones who seem bothered. I can kind of understand why Carlisle and Esme like her, to be honest they would like anyone Edward brought home if they made him happy, he's been alone his whole existence."

"How old is he?"

"Just over a century."

A scoff came from Emily, "There's no way he's been alone all that time."

"From what I know he has been, I've watched him on countless occasions turn down women who were throwing themselves at him. Emmett likes to tease him because of how much of a prude…" Jasper jumped up as he heard something hit the floor, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," came Emily's reply. "Just dropped my body wash."

The blonde sat back down satisfied by the answer, her emotions seemed to confirm her statement she was feeling a slight bit of shock but otherwise was content.

"So how about you Mr. Whitlock? Have you had your fair share of women over the years?"

"After Maria I had a few people I saw on occasion but since joining the Cullens not really. Alice has tried several times over the years to convince me we should be together but it never felt right."

"Hmmm," came Emily's reply as he heard her turn off the shower. The shower door opened slightly and Jasper wondered if he should leave the room but he seemed to be unable to move. Her hand grabbed the towel from the hook on the wall before it disappeared back into the shower.

"What about you, boys must be after someone as beautiful as you," he asked knowing she had already admitted to having had one lover. She was young, she couldn't have had all that many but then again times had changed since he was turned… perhaps he shouldn't have asked the question, he wasn't sure he wanted the answer.

"You think I'm beautiful," Emily asked stepping out of the shower with a smirk on her face.

Nodding Jasper's focus was on the hand that kept the towel held up around her body.

Watching her every move Jasper couldn't pull his eyes away from her as a giggling Emily tapped her face and then her hair with her wand. With two simple movements she had applied light makeup and dried her hair. She set down the wand and reached for her brush but in doing so her towel caught on the cupboard door beneath the sink.

In moments Jasper was on her. Spinning her around to face him he leaned down to claim her pink lips. Cupping her head with one hand he used the other to lift her onto the counter. He felt her arms wrap around his neck pulling him closer to her. Moaning Jasper kissed and nipped lightly down her neck growling at the scent that enticed him in ways no woman had before.

Emily directed Jasper back her lips. Kissing him deeply she couldn't help herself as she pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth. Jasper growled loudly as he once again lifted her, this time Emily wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked with her till her back was against the marble wall. With a wave of her hand she could feel his bare skin pressed against hers.

Emily grasped his shoulders in a sense of urgency, he couldn't be close enough she needed more now but Jasper was in complete control. When finally neither one could hold out a moment longer Jasper latched lightly onto her neck just barely breaking the skin but it was enough to push them both over the edge.

Jasper rested one arm against the wall to allow himself to collect his bearings while the other held Emily, who had collapse into him, tightly to his body. He chuckled when he heard her softly say he had earned the muggle repelling ward.

It was later that night after dinner that Jasper found himself being regaled about Emily's 'accidental' magic by Charlie.

"I felt so bad having to convince poor Mrs. Turner that she must be too stressed out and imagining things. To this day she gives me the evil eye and stares at Em suspiciously when we run into her in town."

"And that was how dad decided it would be best if I was home schooled," Emily concluded with a smile.

Rolling his eyes Charlie leaned back into his favorite chair and took a drink of his beer, "She's always been a bit of a handful but I couldn't well put her back in school if it was an accident."

"Are you suggesting I might have turned poor Mrs. Turner's hair blue on purpose," Emily asked pretending to be scandalized. "I would never have done such a thing! I'm daddy's little angel."

Jasper nor Charlie could hold back their barking laughter as a halo appeared above Emily's head. It quickly vanished though as they all heard the shutting of car doors outside.

"Oh goody, Bella's home."

"Be nice," was her father's reply.

This time it was Emily's turn to roll her eyes as she leaned into Jasper's side. The front door opened and Bella came in followed by an angry looking Edward. His eyes glanced at Emily before glaring at Jasper. Bella for her part just seemed confused and reached back to try and pull her boyfriend into the living room.

"Well I think Jasper and I are going to head upstairs for a bit, glad you got home in time to enjoy dinner with us dad," Emily said getting up and giving her father a kiss on the head.

"Me too kiddo, thanks for keeping this old man company tonight. You too Jasper, thanks for listening to my stories."

"I rather enjoyed them chief."

As Emily and Jasper made their way to the stairs Edward growled lowly never taking his eyes off of Jasper.

"Charlie, Edward and I are going up to my room as well," Emily heard Bella try. The last thing Emily and Jasper heard before closing her door was Bella's screeched "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

Chuckling Jasper made himself comfortable on the bed by propping his back against the headboard. Emily shortly joined him by resting her back against his chest and laying herself between his legs.

"Well I certainly didn't get everything done today I'd hoped to," Emily sighed as Jasper began to run one hand along her arm while the other played with her hair.

"What didn't you get done?"

"I didn't have time to find a secure place where I can practice. Then again I don't really have an opponent to work against so I'll need to figure that out as well tomorrow."

"Am I allowed to watch you practice?"

"Seeing as you can't be harmed by most magic I don't see why not, as long as you promise not to interfere."

"I'll be good," the blonde said raising his hand and making a cross over Emily's heart. "Cross my heart."

"First off you crossed my heart not yours and secondly that rhyme means nothing to you because technically you're already dead."

The two laid in silence both enjoying the flames from the fireplace that dimly lit the room.

"So when did you get this scar?" Jasper asked taking notice of a small circular scar on her right arm.

"Are we going to play how did you get that scar again tonight?"

"We can but if I'm honest I can't actually pinpoint when I got each scar so you can ask but I'll likely just make up some story to appease you since it could have been any newborn bite. I stopped caring after the first few fights."

"So it's really just a round of how did Emily get that scar then."

Nodding Jasper kissed behind her ear, "I find your stories fascinating. Just the little you and your father have told me makes me want to know even more. You live in such a different world, I keep trying to imagine you fighting a dragon and come up short."

"One of these days I'll have to show you my memory of the first task. I'm told I was rather marvelous to behold," she sniffed pretending to toss her hair over her shoulder.

"Well I look forward to being awed by your talents," the vampire said wrapping his arms around Emily's waist. "Now tell me about this scar."

"It's pointless to try and distract you I'm guessing…"

"Yup."

"Fine," Emily sighed snuggling more into Jasper's arms. "I was twelve at the time. My second year was for lack of a better term odd. Just before the year started dad and I were visiting the Malfoys to do our yearly school shopping when I met William, it was the year we began writing to each other.

Obviously that wasn't an odd thing, but once I got to school things just didn't seem right. Randomly throughout the year I would hear voices coming from the walls. They spoke of killing and ripping people apart. Each time I heard the voice someone or something had been petrified."

"Petrified? Were they dead?"

"No they were simply frozen unable to move or waken from their state. The whispers around the castle were that people believed I had been the one hurting the victims."

"Why would people accuse you?"

"I was labeled dark the moment I was sorted into Slytherin House. The house has a tendency to produced wizards and witches who practice the 'darker' leanings of magic. I like to consider myself grey but that's beside the point. People were scared and rational thought tends to flee in those moments. They pointed their finger at me, someone who was close to each scene, I had found two of the victims myself.

It didn't really bother me if I'm honest, I was more focused on my hate for the ponce Gilderoy Lockhart, he's the one whose tea I spiked with the bubble potion… No matter where I turned he always seemed to find me. He gave me the creeps, the way he would touch my arm…" Emily shivered involuntarily at the memories causing Jasper to tighten his arms around her, "he eventually learned to keep his hands to himself…

I met an acromantula for the first and hopefully last time that year."

"Do I even want to know what that is?"

Shrugging Emily turned her head into the vampire's neck a bit as she played with the edge of his sleeve. "They are rather large spiders who can speak. I was trying to figure out what was attacking students in the castle and ended up following some small spiders into the Forbidden Forest. They led me to some very large spiders which in turn led me to never want to venture that far into the forest again."

Chuckling Jasper kissed the side of her head, "The name Forbidden Forest didn't warn you off?"

"I'd been in the forest before and never seen one of the spiders, I didn't realize they were going to be in there. I only escaped because some centaurs came to my aide."

"Centaurs are real?"

"Many creatures in human stories are real, you have to remember there was a time when wizards and witches didn't have to hide themselves so thoroughly from the muggles."

"Fair enough," the blonde said with a nod of his head. "Please continue."

"There's not much more to tell. I eventually discovered what was plaguing the school and attacking students was a Basilisk. The creature is also known as the King of the Serpents, it is one of the most deadly beasts in our world. It can grow to lengths greater than sixty feet long and both its venom and sight are deadly."

"Sight?" Jasper asked in disbelief.

"Looking into its eyes will kill you, think somewhat along the lines of Medusa."

"Then why had no one died?"

"Because in each circumstance the victims never looked into the serpents eyes. It was sheer dumb luck really that each only saw the reflection of the beast causing them to be petrified and not killed."

"Uh huh, and what did you do once you figured out what was attacking the school?"

"I went to find Severus, my Head of House and mentor but he was already in a meeting. A girl had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets earlier that day."

"And what was the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Okay quick history lesson, over a thousand years ago four magical beings decided to build Hogwarts, their names were Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. Together they built the castle and hid it away from the prying eyes of the muggles.

It only took a few years before the founders began to quarrel with each other. At this point in history muggles had become very wary of anything supernatural in nature. They assumed anything with magic was evil, spurring them to hunt down the wizards and witches ruthlessly killing them. The muggles didn't care the age of the person they hunted they simply cared that they could wield magic.

As this is going on Hogwarts was accepting children into its school, but they found many of their students were being killed by their muggle families who feared them. Two of the founders began to disagree on how they should handle the situation. Godric wanted to continue to invite children from muggle families to the school while Salazar felt they were spilling too much magical blood, he wanted to remove the children from their muggle families or not invite them at all.

Salazar realized he could not win against Godric and decided to leave the school. It is believed that each founder had a space in the castle that they designed. Salazar's was said to have been beneath the school in a place where no one else could enter. It became known as the Chamber of Secrets."

"So if no one else could enter how was a girl taken?"

"She was possessed by an object left behind by the Dark Lord. You see Salazar made it impossible for _almost_ everyone to enter, but anyone who could speak the language of the serpents could as long as they were able to find the entrance."

"And I'm guessing he falls into the categories."

"Yes he, like I pointed out last night, is well versed in magic and holds many talents, despite his current insanity he is without a doubt brilliant. Finding the chamber was likely easy for him."

"So where do you fit in that you wound up with this scar?"

"Draco and I were heading to the kitchens to grab a bit of food while we waited for Severus to get back when we ran into the Weasley twins, who are friends of ours. They were upset, it turned out their little sister was the one taken to the chamber and they planned to go save her but they didn't have the ability to get into the chamber."

"But you do?"

Nodding Emily continued on with her story, "To be honest I'm not sure what possessed me to help them other than I didn't have many friends besides Draco and seeing them upset bothered me.

When we were in the tunnels approaching the chamber we found out we had a tag-a-long, Ronald Weasley the twins brother who was my age was certain I was evil and decided to follow us to 'protect' his brothers. When we noticed him, he attempted to curse me but instead his wand backfired causing a cave in. I was forced to go forward alone and hope they could move enough of the rubble that I would be able to return later.

In the chamber I found the girl but I also found the serpent. I was forced to kill it to survive, in doing so I accidentally speared my arm with a venomous tooth. I should have died, I thought I was going to but I was saved by Phoenix tears."

Jasper rested his head against Emily's and breathed in her alluring scent. He could tell he had just received a very abridged version of the events but they were nonetheless terrifying. It was hard for him to see the girl that so calmly lay in his arms off fighting massive serpents, yet she had. No one would guess she was anything other than a very lucky teenager from the outside looking in, in their little town of Forks but he was getting a peek at the adventurous life she truly led far away from here and he certainly hoped she would continue to share more with him.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days passed, Jasper had spent most of his time with Emily but tonight she found herself alone. The vampire was off hunting rabbits as Emily liked to tease him and Charlie had been called out to assist in a case in the next town over earlier that day. As to where Bella was Emily assumed she was on the reservation since she had darted to the door after receiving a text, yelling about going to Jake's.

The ringing phone broke the silence Emily had been enjoying in the house. Walking into the hallway Emily summoned the phone from her father's room to answer it, she didn't have a phone in her room as the reception was never good due to all the magic.

"Hello, Chief Swan's residence."

"Hey, is Bella there? It's Jake."

"Bella left a while ago, can I take a message?"

"Oh, um sure, just let her know that I fixed the truck. Um, she can get it whenever and hang out… if she wants," the boy on the other line seemed to stumble a bit with his words. From what Emily had heard from Charlie Jake had been crushing on Bella since she moved in. He tagged along when Billy came over to watch games just to get a glimpse of Bella. With Emily now home she knew Billy wouldn't be likely to show up for many game nights.

"I'll leave a note for her."

"Okay, thanks."

"Sure," Emily replied hanging up the phone before the lonely boy tried to talk to her more.

Turning around Emily smiled in greeting as her tired looking farther climbed the stairs. "Long night old man?"

"Hey, who are you calling old?" He laughed coming over and pulling his daughter into his side for a hug.

"The man who has grey in his mustache," she replied tracing one side of said mustache with her finger.

"It's pink now isn't it?" he deadpanned looking down at Emily's very amused face. She simply nodded in confirmation quite pleased with her handy work. "So who called?" Charlie asked pointing to the phone in her hand.

"Jake, apparently Bella's truck is fixed."

"Oh that was quick, I thought it would take him a few more days. Where is your sister by the way?"

"At Jake's."

Raising a skeptical eyebrow Charlie pointed to the phone, "Didn't he just call?"

Nodding her head Emily handed her father the phone and started towards her bedroom door, "Yup, so that begs the question where she really is since she told me she was going to Jake's as she ran out the door."

Sighing Charlie ran a hand over his face and glanced back at Bella's open bedroom door, "I'm going to have to have a talk with her. This is just happening too much now."

Shrugging Emily couldn't really offer anything to help her father. She barely knew Bella or the kids in town so had no real idea what any of them got up to. "Well I have some research to do and I believe you need a shower."

Turning his head to sniff his shoulder Charlie slightly cringed at the smell. "Guess I do, want to turn my mustache back by chance?"

"It'll wear off in a few hours," Emily said leaning against her doorframe. "Plus it's a good look for you."

"It's getting old."

" _You're_ getting old, there's a difference," Emily smirked ducking the piece of paper he threw at her head. Picking up the crumpled paper that was likely a scrap from one of his pockets Emily unfolded it only to raise an eyebrow at her father. "Who is Corrine?"

"No one," Charlie huffed moving to swipe the paper from his daughter's hands.

"Uh huh and that's why it says 'call me' with little x's and o's under it."

"She is the woman assigned to the Riley Biers case in Seattle, it's nothing."

"Whatever you say old man," Emily said tossing the paper back to her father. Turning to head into her room she stopped and called back to him. "There's dinner for you in the kitchen. I'll be busy so feel free to have any private phone calls you need to." With a wink to her father she quickly shut the door to her room laughing as she moved back to the books she had spread out in front of the fire.

As she sat down she noticed her mirror begin to light up. "Good morning," she greeted answering the call.

"Good evening dear," the blonde woman replied as she materialized in the mirror. "Having a good night?"

"I was just teasing my father but mostly I've been researching," Emily turned the mirror so Cissa could see all the books she had laid out.

"Good, how's your training coming?"

"What training? I can barely find a place to practice a few spells let alone have an opponent to duel with."

"Perhaps we can see about getting someone to you to help you," Cissa sighed trying to figure out if it was even something they could safely attempt. "It was a bit of an oversight on all our parts."

Shrugging Emily leaned back against the bench at the end of her bed, "None of us thought I would be coming here alone… things just changed so quickly that night we really didn't have time to alter any of our plans."

"True but that doesn't change the fact that you do need someone there to help you. I will think on it for the next few days and see if we can't find a solution. How is everything else?"

"Good, Jasper is out feeding and dad is down stairs eating his dinner by now hopefully."

"So you've been spending time with the vampires," the older woman smiled.

"Just the one, the other one, Edward is still with Bella. I've barely spoken to him."

"Give him time, vampires are never good at change."

"You still think I should see both of them," Emily said looking disbelievingly at the mirror. "That will go over well with two vampires who are naturally territorial and a muggle sister who is dating one of them. I can't see this going wrong at all…"

"Just try and keep an open mind," Cissa instructed. "One can never fight fate."

"Oh, now it's fated? Doesn't fate play with my existence enough?"

Laughing Cissa smiled at the young girl, "Open mind dear."

Shaking her head Emily ran a hand through her hair, "I'll try, now how is everyone over there?"

"The Dark Lord has begun infiltrating the ministry, which we had already anticipated. Sadly it is going far easier for him than we had hoped but for now there's not much any of us can do. Severus is as moody as ever, he worries for you and Dragon greatly. Luc is almost back to full strength, while Sirius and Remus should be back from their little mission in a few days and I can update you on them then."

"And Dray?"

"Dragon has been instructed to contact you soon by the Dark Lord. He hopes that he will be able to sway you through your friendship."

Emily looked out the window with a quizzical look on her face, "And I'm guessing you are leaving it up to me on how this should play out."

"The Dark Lord never lets Dragon go very far except to join the others on raids. I am quite sure your correspondence will be read, the more favorable your replies the better for Dragon but there could be more consequences for the innocent people here. If the Dark Lord thinks you are close to being swayed he may become bolder."

"Would he really do that? Certainly he has no idea where I am, for all he knows more deaths could lead to me not joining him."

"He's put a lot of effort into finding you this past week. He will continue to search until he finds you but that's not all that shocking of news we all were certain that would happen."

"Wonderful."

"His obsession drives him, you as well as I know that he cannot be allowed to find you."

"What's to stop him from putting a tracking charm on one of Draco's letters?" Emily asked looking at the grim faced blonde staring back at her.

"He knows you are far too smart to be tracked he believes you are hiding under a fidelius charm which would make tracking impossible…"

"But it would also make it impossible for anyone other than my personal owl to find me."

"True, Dragon only came to me after the raid last night to tell me of this new assignment. I doubt Dragon has been given much more details then that he is to be ready to reach out to you, he would have told me more if he could have."

"I guess we wait to decide until we have more information." Emily sighed as she felt someone enter the wards. "I should probably get back to my books and you no doubt need to start your day."

"Alright dear, try not to worry too much. I can already see the cogs turning in your head analyzing all the ways this could play out."

Nodding Emily waved and wished Cissa a good day before tapping the mirror to end the call. A tap at the window drew her attention. Standing she stretched out her body before going to open the window. Leaning against the frame to block the vampire from entering Emily crossed her arms, "Hello Edward."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Jasper would have used the front door, he only ever leaves through the window if my dad is still sleeping."

"I see," he said his face becoming tight.

"What are you doing here Edward?" Emily asked having little patience for his interruption. She wanted to get through a few more things with her research before heading to bed.

"I wanted to see you."

"More like you came to see Bella and realized she wasn't home."

"No, I knew she wasn't home, I came to see you."

"Lovely."

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he asked tilting his to the side.

Taking a deep breath she pushed herself back from the window, "Fine, won't you come in?" She made a large sweeping motion with her arm before turning and heading back to her books.

Edward leapt through the window landing quietly on the hardwood floor. Looking around the room he noticed the scattered books that Emily was already seeming to look through. "What are you doing?"

"I'm working on a project."

"For school?" he asked moving to sit on the floor by her.

"Sure," she answered not even looking up.

"When do you go back?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

Emily looked over at the copper headed vampire and raised an eyebrow, "Why do you care?"

"I'm curious," he said turning his head as he tried to figure out what language the book closest to him was written in.

"I can see that," she replied pointing to the book and finally looking at the vampire. "You can keep trying to read that but you won't succeed."

"Perhaps if I was familiar with the language…"

"It's written in Parseltongue there are only two people alive that can read it, you are not one of them."

Trying not to be put off by the girl's obvious anger with him he tried again, "What's Parseltongue?"

"Snake language."

"And you are one of the two people who can speak it?"

" _ **Yes**_ ," she hissed slightly amused by the involuntary shiver of the vampire.

Swallowing down the slight fear that the strange language incited in him he tried to keep the girl talking to him, "Do you talk to snakes often?" He wanted to hit himself as he spoke, god he sounded lame.

"I own one, so I would say yes."

"Where is it?" he asked looking around the room as if it could appear any second.

"She's back in London with my mentor. I couldn't very well bring her on a muggle plane to the US."

Nodding the vampire imagined it would be quite an odd thing to bring with you, he smirked as he thought of that awful film Emmett would sometimes watch 'Snakes on a Plane' and he wondered how tame her snake was. "Does she have a name?"

"Isis after the Egyptian Goddess of Magic. Legend says that the goddess conjured a snake to bite the God Ra to force him into revealing his secrets. It seemed fitting since she had been conjured to fight in a duel and was brought to me through magic."

"Someone conjured a snake to fight you?" he asked in disbelief.

"No, my best friend conjured her when he was selected to 'duel' a loud mouth red head from Gryffindor."

"So you duel a lot in school."

"Not really, we sometimes have dueling tournaments for fun in my House though."

Edward just nodded his head as if what he was hearing was normal but he simply was blown away that people still dueled and were encouraged to do so at such young ages in a school. "Do you have any other pets?" he asked as he glanced back down to the strange book.

"Apollo and I guess at times you could count Padfoot," Emily smirked seemingly amused by a joke he didn't understand.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked motioning to all the books.

She wrote something quickly with her quill before setting the old looking parchment down. "No, I'm done for now I guess. Now are you going to tell me why we are playing a one sided twenty questions?"

"I needed to see you," at her answering scoff Edward reached out and took her hand in his, his other hand slightly pulled at his hair. "Truly, I needed to just spend some time with you, it's so frustrating I don't understand why but being away is driving me insane. I need to know more about you…"

Emily wanted to shove him away as he pulled her closer to him but something was stopping her. Their lips met and she could feel her annoyance with the vampire practically melt inside of her. Her hands found their way into his hair and her body pressed against his. All thought seemed to leave her as the next second she found herself lying back on her bed, one of his hands gripped tightly on her hip while the other supported his weight against her.

Emily was woken from her sleep by a loud crash. Groaning as she recognized the new muggle signature in the wards she rolled back into the hard chest she had been sleeping against. Another loud bang had her groaning as she pushed herself out of her bed and summoned a robe to cover herself.

"Merlin!" she exclaimed as she hit her leg on the bench in her grogginess. A chuckle coming from the bed had her glaring at the vampire who lay there.

Opening her door Emily was greeted by the sight of a giggling Bella who was attempting to hold herself up with the wall. Leaning against the door frame she watched the girl continue to laugh as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other.

"She smells like wet dog," Edward's voice came from behind her. Turning her head Emily noticed he had put pants on but nothing else. His hand touched her back as he joined her in watching his girlfriend fall once again.

"Edward…" Bella said from where she sat on the floor still giggling at her own misfortune. "Help me," she commanded raising her arms in the air smiling. Emily couldn't help but laugh as the girl wasn't even looking in their direction if she remembered any of this come morning she would probably assume that she had imagined his voice in her inebriated state.

"Yes Edward why don't you help her," came a gruff voice. Charlie seemed to examine the scene before him only raising an eyebrow at the picture Emily and Edward likely painted before sighing as he looked back at his obviously drunk daughter. "Neither one of you want to help me with this?"

"I could take a picture, you know just so you can remind her of why she's being punished in the morning if you like," Emily offered with a smile.

"Hopefully the headache and nausea will do that enough for her," he said moving to help his daughter from the floor. "You two can go back to…" Shaking his head he picked up Bella to carry her to her room, "You know what, right now I don't even want to know."

Taking Edwards hand she led the vampire who was glancing back over his shoulder to the bed encouraging him to lay down before she snuggled back into him and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning as Emily entered the kitchen followed by Edward it was to a sight that greatly amused her, Bella's head lay against the table and her hands clung to a large glass of water. She looked miserable. Emily could have been kind and slipped the girl a hangover potion but how else was the muggle to learn.

Grabbing a mug she poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. Edward took a place next to her obviously not seeming to care that his girlfriend was suffering.

Opening her eyes Bella seemed to notice her audience and sat up attempting to smooth out her impossibly tangled hair. "Edward when did you get here?"

"Awhile ago," the vampire shrugged.

"Edward, I'm not feeling well. Can you come back later?" Bella asked attempting to smile in what she hoped was a cute way at her boyfriend.

Staring at the hungover brunette Edward felt like he was truly seeing his girlfriend for the first time. Was this what she had been doing whenever she would disappear from Alice's visions? His phone beeped, noticing it was Carlisle he quickly read the text, apparently the Quileutes wanted to have a meeting with them and Carlisle wanted to speak to him beforehand.

"It seems my father needs me anyway," Edward said looking between the two girls in the kitchen. He was unsure of how to say goodbye. He was supposedly dating one but found himself drawn to and sleeping with the other, perhaps he had more to talk about with Carlisle than the impending meeting.

As he awkwardly nodded at the girls and turned to leave Jasper strode into the kitchen.

"Morning Darlin'" Jasper greeted as he entered the room giving Emily a brief kiss on the lips. He threw a glare at his brother's back before taking up his vacated position at Emily's side.

Bella simply moaned and let her head drop back to the table once Edward had left the room. The blonde vampire looked at Emily quizzically at the human's odd behavior.

"It seems you weren't the only person to _drink_ their fill last night," she whispered looking into his bright amber eyes. Pushing away from the counter she set her mug in the sink and clapped her hands loudly enjoying the wince Bella made. "Now chop, chop my good sir you and I have a few things to get done today."

Coming home Edward found the house mostly empty. Alice he assumed was out shopping and Rosalie had likely gone with her, it only stood to follow that poor Emmett had been dragged along to carry their bags. Kissing Esme's head as he passed her on his way up the stairs he tried to discern what Carlisle may want to speak to him about but his parents thoughts seemed to be on rather mundane things.

Knocking on the door to his father's study Edward was almost instantly invited in. "Come in Edward."

Doing as instructed the younger vampire moved to sit in the armchair in front of Carlisle's desk. "You needed to see me."

"Yes, but it's nothing to be concerned about I merely wanted to know how things with Bella are going," Carlisle said leaning back in his chair.

"Why do you ask?" Edward replied hesitantly. While he wanted to talk to his father about the recent complications to his relationship with the human he had not expected Carlisle to be the one to bring up the topic.

"It is a bit out of character for the Quileutes to request a meeting with us, since they did not feel the need to share what they wished to speak about I can only conclude that it must be about Bella."

Edward nodded his head in agreement. They had not violated any of the agreed upon terms to the treaty so the only reason he could see that the tribe would want to talk to them would be over his involvement in Bella's life. "As far as I'm aware she does not know what they are nor has she betrayed our secret, at least not intentionally."

"Intentionally?" Carlisle asked leaning forward and placing his arms on his desk. Edward was slightly envious, for a brief moment, at how easily the human gestures and movements came to his sire. Even sitting in his own study where he didn't need to hide, he still naturally seemed to act human.

"I…" Edward struggled on how to begin to tell his father everything he had been feeling and dealing with since Emily had come to Forks for the summer. Running a hand through his hair Edward sighed, "It's complicated but last night Bella was very drunk."

"That doesn't sound like her," Carlisle responded looking a bit puzzled.

"Yes well last night she could barely stand when she came home to Charlie's house. She smelled of wet dog and I can't help but wonder if this has been going on more frequently. In a drunken state who knows what she might have said to one of the wolves."

Frowning Carlisle nodded his head, "Then I guess we prepare for the questions they may ask about her involvement with you and her future with our family."

"But that's just it, I don't know if there is a future for her in our family!" Edward added looking away from his father in frustration.

"What do you mean son?" came Carlisle's calm reply.

Edward continued to stare at the wall for a few moments while the older vampire waited patiently for his response. Turning to look at his father he whispered the words he had probably known were true since his first night with Emily, "I don't believe Bella is my mate."

"Why do you say that?" Carlisle asked sitting up straighter. "You seemed so sure."

"I was sure, I thought I understood what I was feeling..."

"What's changed?"

"Emily," Edward whispered looking down at his lap.

Carlisle was surprised at the response, "You mean Bella's sister? Have you spent much time around her?"

"More than you would expect," the copper headed vampire replied. "With Bella I was drawn to her blood and the silence, I thought that my ability to not kill my singer meant she had to be my mate. Only that bond could override such a desire to kill, or at least that's what I believed. With Emily I can't control myself, I haven't controlled myself…

Bella always tries to push me into being more intimate but while I have a slight want to I can stop before anything comes close to happening. I thought it was just my want to protect her from any harm including what I might inflict on her," Edward paused looking up at his father as if begging him to understand and not judge him poorly for what he was admitting. "With Emily I can't stop. Hurting her doesn't even register on my mind, I simply know I won't."

"So you've already been with Emily?" Carlisle asked trying to make sure he fully understood what he was being told.

Nodding Edward looked at his sire who had always been a moral man and hoped he could continue to accept him for what he had done.

Seeing Edward's worry Carlisle stood and came to sit on his desk in front of the younger man. "I love you son and I will support you if being with Emily is what you feel is right but we do need to decide what to do about Bella. She knows our secret, we have to be careful how we handle the situation from here on out."

"So you're not mad at me?"

Sighing Carlisle grabbed his son's shoulder, "I could never be mad at you for something that could have happened to any of us. Having a human mate complicates the bond, it makes things harder to understand. I even left Esme when she was younger not realizing just who I had left behind. It was only luck and fate that led me years later to find her dying and recognize her as my mate."

"Thank you," Edward said looking into his father's eyes. He felt like a huge weight was being lifted off his shoulders.

Nodding Carlisle straightened himself out and folded his hands in his lap, "Why don't you go call Alice and remind her, her little shopping party needs to be home soon so we can meet with the Quileutes."

As Edward left the older vampire sighed, he was worried about what Edward's revelation might mean for their family. He knew Jasper had been spending every second he could with this new human, never before had his war torn son reached out to another being so quickly. He could only hope that whatever was going on would not end in a division of his family.

"I'm going to have to leave soon darlin'," Jasper said running his fingers through Emily's hair. "Our family has a meeting with the wolves."

Emily sneered and leaned back more into the vampire's chest as she continued writing down her notes from the book she currently had levitating open next to the snuggled up pair. "Must you join them?"

"I wish I didn't have to but Carlisle has asked the whole family to attend, he believes it's about Bella's involvement with our family."

"Why would they care?" she asked as she flipped to the next page of her book and nibbled on the end of her quill.

"The treaty says we cannot bite a human nor can we reveal our knowledge of their tribe to others. They most likely want to make sure we aren't planning on turning Bella or shared their secret with her."

"It's not that exciting of a secret and from what you've told me Edward is more likely to drain Bella dry then turn her. If one of you was to kill her what do they think they can do against an entire coven of vampires?"

"They believe it is their job to protect humans."

"Hah, they are far too rash with little control over their ability. As far as I know only two of them have turned, not very good odds when there are thousands of hungry vampires roaming the world."

Jasper felt a strong dislike coming from the girl whenever the wolves were mentioned, letting his curiosity win he finally asked a question he had been wondering about since she mentioned her aversion to going to the reservation when they first met. "Why do you hate the wolves?" Emily looked away from her paper raising an eyebrow at the blonde. "Not that I don't understand what there is not to like, it's just where you come from I would think you would be more open to werewolves, but you seem to really dislike them, I guess I'm curious why."

"One they are not werewolves, true werewolves turn only on the full moon. The mutts on the reservation are shapeshifters. Two where I come from dark creatures are not well liked, you would be hard pressed to find many wizards who trusted a vampire or werewolf. I just happen to have met enough of both species to understand it's not the creature in them that makes them dark it is their soul. Everything comes down to intent."

"So you think the wolves on the reservation are dark?"

Emily shrugged, "Not dark but certainly stupid and selfish."

"But something must have happened for you to hate them…" Jasper prompted.

"The last time I came home for the summer was before my third year. My dad spent a lot of time at the reservation so I was often dragged along. Paul Lahote is an annoying boy who often tried my patience. Being a bit older than I he thought he was being cool by showing up drunk one night to a bonfire. He wasn't quite catching on that I didn't appreciate his attention. At one point he grabbed me and tried to kiss me, my magic lashed out throwing him away from me. In his anger at my response he phased. He charged at me and I pulled out my wand to protect myself. I injured him just as the elders found us. They were livid at me for injuring one of their tribe. They told my father I was a threat and never allowed back on their lands unless I accepted the imprint Paul had on me."

"One of the dogs imprinted on you!" Jasper growled instantly becoming angry at the thought of one of them touching the beautiful witch in his arms.

Emily shook her head, "Of course not, but that was how they tried to play off Paul's behavior when I told my father what had happened. They said because of my witchcraft I had tricked his spirit into choosing me as a mate. He phased only because I was denying him what was his right."

"And your father believed them?"

"No but he also knew my secret had been exposed to the elders and Paul. He promised I would never return to the reservation in return for their silence. He stopped going down there as much after that and limited most of his time to seeing Billy but once your family moved to town even that relationship was strained.

Even if I was allowed on the reservation I wouldn't go. The shifters have no control, they turn so young their tempers are nowhere near stable. If I hadn't had my magic to aide me I would have died or been severely injured. I have no wish to willingly put myself in more potentially dangerous situations then I have to."

Running to join his family Jasper couldn't help but think about what Emily had told him. It angered him that they had been so callous towards her simply for defending herself. He knew it was likely that Paul would be at the meeting being one of the two wolves the tribe had but he wasn't sure how he was going to control himself from attacking the man who dared to think he could touch _his_ Emily.

Clearing his mind he ran up to meet his family who stood waiting for him outside of their house.

"We will head to the treaty line, it is likely they want to know about Bella's involvement with Edward. Please allow me to do the talking," Carlisle instructed the group. "It shouldn't take us long and then you all may go back to doing as you wished."

They each nodded in understanding before taking off running behind Carlisle. When they reached the treaty line the Quileute elders were already waiting there along with Sam Uley and Paul Lahote the two wolves. Jasper swallowed his growl at the sight of them.

There was an awkward silence between the two groups before Carlisle took a small step forward his hands clasped in front of him, "Chief Black you have asked for a meeting and we are here, what is it you seek?"

"We have agreed in the treaty to warn of potential threats to our existences should the need arise."

Carlisle looked quizzically at the man who was wheelchair bound. He had been expecting them to ask about their involvement with Bella, as far as he knew she was a simple human who while young presented little risk to either race. "And you believe there is a danger great enough to heed a warning?"

"Yes," came the gruff reply. "There is one who has recently returned to Forks that poses great risk to us all."

Edward snarled as he read the man's thoughts, "She is no threat!"

"You are wrong mind reader. She has injured one of our own in the past and we have heard stories of the dangers that follow her."

Jasper instantly knew who they spoke of and growled in anger, "She only injured one of your dogs because he couldn't keep his hands to himself!"

Edward seeing the conversation between Jasper and Emily replay in his brother's mind began growling. His focus was trained on Paul, it took everything in him to not jump across the line and rip the smug grin off his face.

"He was lucky to survive her attack! She has killed before, one of her most recent victims was a werewolf!" an elder called out.

"And the person you speak of is?" Carlisle asked trying to calm the tension and avoid a fight, though he was certain he already knew the answer due to his sons' reactions.

"Emily Potter."

Emmett started laughing, "You called to warn us about a human?"

"She's no human leech!" Sam snarled. "She's…"

"You have no right to tell her secrets!" Jasper cut off the mutt. "I believe we're done here."

"You would do well to heed our warning Cullens," Black called after them as they turned to follow Jasper and Edward who had already taken off at a run back to the house.

As the family approached they noticed both men seemed agitated. Jasper stood with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as Edward paced beside him.

"What's going on with you two?" Emmett asked as he slowed to stop by his brothers.

When neither one answered the large vampire looked to his father for an explanation but instead got none. Carlisle for his part did not take his eyes off his sons. "Would either of you like to explain why the Quileutes felt the need to warn us about a human?"

"It's not our secret to tell," Edward said looking at his father before looking off into the distance behind him.

Carlisle looked to Jasper who simply shook his head. Realizing he would get no answers from them he motioned down the driveway, "Go."

The words were barely out of his mouth before the two vampires took off running. The old vampire knew exactly where they were headed but not for the first time that day did he worry about what this girl would mean for his family.


	5. Chapter 5

When Charlie answered the knock at the door he was surprised to find two agitated vampires on his door step. Neither even seemed to notice him though, both only had eyes for his daughter who stood on the stairs behind him.

"Dad you might want to let them in," Emily laughed as she joined her father at the door. Her smile dropped when she saw the worried looks on the vampires' faces. "What's wrong?"

As Emily pulled her father back a few steps both boys took the opportunity to enter looking cautiously around them, they could hear the third heartbeat in the house and they wanted to be sure they couldn't be overheard by the human. Noticing their hesitation Emily took each of their hands and led them up the stairs. "Come on Bella's sleeping but we can talk in my room."

Charlie stared at the three as they vanished upstairs and wondered just what was going on. He had learned a long time ago that life was never simple with his magical daughter but lately he knew she was keeping even more secrets from him than usual. Normally he received regular updates from Remus and Sirius on what they knew but he hadn't heard from the two in a few weeks and he worried what that meant. Sighing, he walked back into the living room and sat down in his favorite chair in hopes of distracting himself with the game that was on.

Shutting the door and making sure her silencing charms were in place Emily turned to look at the two male vampires standing by the fire. "So who wants to tell me what is going on?"

"The tribe didn't call a meeting to inquire about Bella," Jasper spoke.

When he didn't elaborate Emily nodded and moved to the vampire rubbing her hands up and down his arms. "Okay, so what did they say that has you so worked up?"

"They wanted to warn us," Edward whispered. Emily turned to look at the vampire who kept running a hand through his hair as he stared at the fire.

"Warn you about…"

"You."

"Me," Emily swallowed as she stepped back from Jasper and moved to sit on the end of her bed. "What did they say?"

Jasper followed to join her as he answered, "Not much, we cut them off before they could voice your secret to the rest of the family but that didn't stop them from mentioning you had injured Paul in the past…"

"Or that you had recently killed a werewolf," Edward added as he came to sit on Emily's opposite side.

Sighing Emily ran a hand over her face as she looked up at the ceiling, how in the name of Hades did the mutts know that?

"So it's true," Jasper said reading Emily's emotions. There was no denial just an annoyed acceptance at what had been said.

"Yes, and I'm not sorry he's dead."

"We are in no position to judge darlin'," Jasper whispered as he kissed the side of her head. "Tell us what happened."

"Everything had been going to plan," Emily began as she stared at the flames that danced in her fireplace, losing herself slightly in the memory of that night. "Draco had killed Dumbledore and Severus had helped him. They fled quickly knowing everyone would assume them traitors. I waited a few moments before running down the tower stairs. When I got to the corridor below a battle was already waging. Curses were flying through the air as well as rubble. I rushed to join the Order as best as I could but the Death Eaters were firing off more lethal curses in an attempt to distract us so they could get away.

When I heard him yell I turned. He had been caught on his wand arm with a stray cutting curse. Greyback took the moment of shock to pounce. William stood no chance once the werewolf was on him. I was forced to keep fighting, I couldn't save him," Emily explained wiping at her eyes as a few tears fell. "When they finally all fled I chased them, especially him. Greyback was cocky and it was his undoing. He sent the others on, said he would hold me off long enough for them to leave. He didn't understand I wasn't after the others I just wanted him to pay.

I watched as he bled out before me, the shock on his face was enough to make me laugh. That was how Sirius found me, half laughing half crying over the cruel man as he died. He had taken so many lives, he had changed so many children's futures with his perversion to bite them at a young age, he had cursed Remus to a life ruled by the moon and finally he had taken the future I had planned for away, so I took his life as payment."

Jasper could feel a deep sadness coming from Emily but there was a strong feeling of righteousness as well. She truly did not regret ending the man's life. He remembered the first night they met, he had mentioned his tale was a gruesome one and she had told him hers was as well, until now he hadn't completely believed her and he was certain they were only scratching the surface of the reality she faced back in London.

"Was that the first time…" Edward's question trailed off, he felt bad for even beginning to ask her to recount the struggles she had been through. Reaching over he took her hand in his and began to play with her fingers.

"No," Emily offered squeezing his hand and giving the vampire a smile to let him know she was okay with his curiosity. "It wasn't the first life I have taken and it won't be the last."

Before either boy could ask why that was, the mirror on Emily's nightstand began to vibrate and shine a bright red. Seeing this Emily summoned the mirror to herself and quickly answered it. Jasper could feel the slight panic radiating from her as she did so.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked as the blonde woman came into view. She looked tired, her hair was pulled up into a ponytail which was uncharacteristic for the witch and she had a bit of smeared blood on her cheek.

"We have discovered how the Dark Lord intends for you and Dragon to start communicating," at Emily's raised eyebrow the woman elaborated. "Early this morning the Dark Lord sent Draco to Diagon Alley where he was ambushed by whom we can only guess."

The vampires looked at each other over the brunette's head in wonder at what they were seeing. It was like an ancient witchcraft version of a modern video chat.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Nodding Cissa leaned back into the chair in which she was sitting, "He will be just fine, but it will take a few days for him to truly heal."

"What injuries did he suffer?"

"Nothing too major dear, a few broken bones and quite a bit of blood loss. Severus and I treated him personally as soon as he was brought to the manor. It's only been about an hour since he was brought back but I knew I needed to reach out to you as quickly as I could."

"You think the Dark Lord planned Draco's attack as a way to get my attention," Emily said catching on to why the blonde had reached out so quickly when Draco's life wasn't truly in danger.

"Due to it being such a public place, the attack on a well known pureblood heir will likely make the headlines of the Evening Prophet."

"A paper I don't get being in the US but that's not something he would know," Emily said as she pushed herself off the bed and walked over to her desk to pull out some spare parchment. "So to begin communication he believes I will be spurred into sending out Apollo."

"Yes."

"I'll write something up now and send Apollo out shortly, that way the timing won't be so far off. He will think the delay in Apollo's arrival was due to my hesitation after what happened in the tower."

"Are you sure dear?"

Nodding Emily sighed, "I think for now its best if we play into his hand. The longer he thinks he has the upper hand the better."

"He's not a patient man dear there's no telling what he will do if this starts to take too long. He may give you a few weeks but certainly not much more than that."

"I know but until I have time to think on this, it's the best we can do," Emily concluded. Propping up the mirror on her desk, Emily began shifting through one of her drawers to find a blank notebook.

"You have guests."

Emily looked at the mirror before turning and smiling at the two vampires sitting on her bed. "I do. Cissa this is Jasper Whitlock and Edward Cullen. Boys this is the woman who has been like a mother to me since her son and I became friends on our first meeting in Diagon Alley, this is Lady Narcissa Malfoy."

"It's lovely to put faces to names, and quite handsome faces at that," Cissa said with a wink.

Emily threw a mock glare at the woman before pulling out the plain black leather notebook she was looking for. Placing the notebook to the side she grabbed the mirror and smiled, "Okay, before you try to embarrass me I think I'm going to go and write this letter then head to bed."

"Whatever you say dear, I'll just go check on Dragon once more before joining Severus and Luc for lunch. I can't wait to see how they react to the news of your new companions…"

Emily rolled her eyes before waving to the blonde in the mirror. "Goodbye Cissa!" she called before quickly ending the call. She attempted to glare at the chuckling vampires on her bed before turning her focus to the blank parchment on her desk. "Why don't you two find something to entertain yourselves with while I write this letter…"

Sighing she wondered exactly how to word a letter that would no doubt be read by the Dark Lord himself. How could she convey anything subtly without giving too much away? She decided that her best course of action was to keep it short and sweet. After all the two had supposedly had several arguments leading up to the events in the astronomy tower.

 _Dear Dray,_

 _I apologize for the lateness of my response in regards to your attack but I must blame my hesitations on our parting at the end of the year. Perhaps you are even surprised to find I sent anything or more likely you are rolling your eyes wondering what took me so long._

 _How are you feeling? I certainly hope you are at Severus' tender mercies. Partially I admit for my own twisted amusement but also because while his bedside manner leaves something to be desired we both know he is the best field medic and Potions Master around._

 _I know you are probably wondering why there is a blank notebook with this letter instead of candy but simply put I didn't feel like sharing my stash. (I feel bad for you but not quite bad enough to send you my sugar quills!) The other being you will be doing me a favor by taking this. I had originally gotten it for William, to replace his old one that I had filled with my own thoughts and ramblings. Perhaps it will do you good to manage your own mischievous thoughts while trapped in bed healing._

 _I know this is short but I am a bit at a loss of what to say, then again it could simply be that moment where I am beginning to realize I am standing at a Fork in the road and I have nothing of deep import to share with anyone._

 _Send a letter back with Apollo if you wish or blood pops, my companions would thank you in this dreary place. But be warned Apollo cannot return where I am if spells are applied to him so be kind to my bird, please and thank you!_

 _Solemnly up to no good,_

 _Em_

Reading over the brief letter she folded it up and sealed it with one of her wax seals, it was a rose and wand that was well known to be her favorite when sending letters. Come August she would only be able to use the seal for fun letters while most correspondence would call for the Potter family crest, oh the burdens of becoming a Lady in the magical society.

"Apollo," Emily called as she finished wrapping up the letter and notebook for the long journey. "Take this to Dray and wait for a reply. Be swift but rest if needed and while at the manor please stay out of trouble, it won't simply be our friends roaming the halls now."

Hooting in understanding Apollo picked up the package and flew out the window as soon as Emily opened it. She watched the bird begin to disappear before closing the window and turning to the two vampires, who it seemed had not moved.

"I thought I told you two to entertain yourselves? Me writing a letter isn't all that exciting," she said as she summoned her nightie. Moving into the bathroom she changed her clothes and washed her face. As she walked back into the bedroom she tied her hair up in a messy bun and raised an eyebrow at the boys who kept looking at each other before looking to her. "Can I help you two?"

"What's really going on?" Edward asked glancing to his brother who looked torn between telling him to shut up and thanking him for not having to be the one to voice the question.

"Going on…" Emily prompted as she moved to climb into her bed.

"What he means is we're a bit confused."

"About a lot of things," Edward added.

"Okay let's see what I can help with," Emily said pulling the covers over her legs as she used the headboard to rest her back against. Patting either side of her, the boys took the hint and moved up the bed.

Taking her hand Jasper looked at the beautiful woman who was such a puzzle to him. "There is something far more going on then you simply being a witch. You've mentioned a Dark Lord, fighting, you are covered in scars… then tonight we find out you've had to take a life or lives in the past. How can I…" at Edward's low growl Jasper seemed to reluctantly nod at him before continuing. "How can we protect you if we don't know what you're facing?"

"It's not either of your jobs to protect me," Emily said looking between the boys. "It's not an accomplishable goal."

"We are more indestructible then most people," Edward offered taking Emily's free hand. He knew he couldn't walk away from Emily and from Jasper's thoughts he felt just as strongly for this mysterious girl who sat between them. Whatever dangers she faced they both planned to follow.

Emily smiled at the sweet boy who really couldn't understand what powers her kind were truly capable of. "While you are harder to end then your magical counterparts it doesn't mean that a little fiendfyre couldn't do the job. Granted few sane wizards would truly feel comfortable wielding it but the people I face aren't all that sane."

"Well explain it to us. You mentioned your destiny on the night we first met, what's your destiny?" Jasper asked.

Sighing Emily closed her eyes and gave both vampires' hands a squeeze. "Can we talk about this later?" Seeing both boys move to protest she quickly cut them off. "I'm exhausted. I have a lot I need to think about, with the wolves knowing so much and the new development with Draco, I just need to sleep a little and start fresh in the morning. I promise to explain more about my destiny and what is going on back in London but can I just rest for tonight, please?"

Jasper could feel the exhaustion radiating from her and conveyed this to Edward who nodded in understanding. "Of course, forgive us. We can wait, sleep, we will be here when you wake."

Emily smiled in thanks as she slid down and cuddled into her covers. Both boys maneuvered themselves to be laying down as well and Emily found herself feeling more comforted than ever before. She was unsure of what exactly was going on but at the same time in that moment she couldn't be bothered to care, she'd think more on this and everything else in the morning.

The next morning both boys were still in bed with Emily when she woke. They allowed her to get up and move about in her usual routine, even following her downstairs as she made her breakfast and enjoyed a cup of blood while she drank her morning coffee. Her peaceful morning was cut short when the muggle in the house chose to wander into the kitchen.

"Edward, what are you doing down here?" Bella asked looking around the room as if searching for something. "Did you make me breakfast?"

Emily snorted as she stood to put her dishes in the sink, "The only person who has cooked this morning was me and I certainly didn't prepare anything for you."

Moving to the doorway Emily watched as the boys mimicked her and cleaned out the cups they had been drinking from.

"Edward, why do you have a mug? You can't…" Bella suddenly stopped herself looking towards Emily worriedly. "I mean you don't like coffee, you don't have to drink some just to be polite."

"I wasn't being polite," the copper headed vampire shrugged. "I enjoyed it."

"So did I," Jasper added moving to kiss Emily's head. "Thank you darlin'."

Bella appeared dumbfounded at the boys' announcement and turned her head to look at the now clean mugs they had been using. "But…"

"I really don't have time Isabella, but I'll be here later and we should talk."

Bella seemed to not really hear him as she moved towards the box of cereal that was on top of the fridge still looking at the mugs in disbelief. "Sure, sure. I'll be here."

"Yeah because you're grounded," Emily added too quietly for the muggle to hear. But the vampires had no such difficultly and laughed as they followed the young witch back to her room.

As Emily shut the door Jasper's phone began to vibrate from where it lay on the nightstand. Sighing the vampire moved to check it before turning to look at Edward. "We should probably head back to the house for a little bit before they decide to just come here for answers instead. They have been texting and calling all night, I don't know how much longer their patience will last."

"Are you going to tell them about me?" Emily asked as she moved towards the window. She figured in broad daylight it was best if the boys took off through the woods since neither had driven in their haste to see her last night.

"Are we allowed to?"

Emily shrugged, "I'm not sure I have much choice after the tribe's actions last night. It might be best if they knew a little."

" _We_ only know a little," Jasper said raising his eyebrow in challenge at the girl.

Emily waved him off slightly as she moved towards him to rub his arms, "Soon, I promise."

"I'm holding you to that darlin'."

"I know you will." Smiling at the vampire she rose up on her tippy toes to kiss him. "Now why don't you two go, the sooner you leave the quicker you return and all that nonsense."

Laughing Jasper walked with Emily to the window, giving her one more kiss he jumped out of it. Taking his brother's place Edward leaned down to kiss the beautiful girl before following his brother out the window.

Closing the window Emily leaned her back against it and sighed. What was happening in her life? Two vampires seemed to be interested in her, the wolves knew far too much for being a small tribe located in Forks Washington and her best friend was being attacked simply, so a Dark Lord could gain her attention.

She knew who she needed to talk to and summoned her mirror but before she could make the call a loud banging came from her door. Annoyed knowing that only one other person remained in the home Emily moved to open the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked staring blankly at the muggle before her.

"I… where's Edward?" Bella asked trying to look into Emily's room unsuccessfully. Emily had opened the door just enough for her body to be seen, it would do no good for Bella to see her room and start asking too many questions. According to Jasper the girl was good at putting her nose in other people's business and she had no want to invite the muggle to bother her.

"Gone home I assume, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"He followed you up here…"

"He followed me out of the kitchen," Emily offered the girl.

"I need to talk to him," Bella said crossing her arms and glaring at her 'sister'.

"I believe he said he would speak to you later, but if you are so desperate perhaps you should call him."

"He's not answering, I think his phone is off."

Emily shrugged and shook her head, "Then I guess you have to wait till later."

Bella tried one more time to peer over Emily's head before huffing in frustration as she stomped off without saying another word to the witch.

Closing the door Emily made sure her silencing wards were in place as she moved to her bench and made the call she had intended to do before she was interrupted by Bella.

"Is everything all right dear?" came Cissa's voice as the woman slowly came into view.

"I guess…" When the woman just raised an elegant eyebrow at her Emily elaborated. "The local tribe here seems to know far more about me than they should. They made to warn Jasper and Edward's coven about me, going as far to mention that I had recently killed a werewolf. Not to mention I seem to find myself enjoying two different vampires' presences and I'm not sure what to make of it all."

"Well as far as the local tribe goes let me speak to Severus and see what we can discreetly find out here. For now I would be wary of them and avoid contact with them at all costs."

Nodding Emily rolled her eyes, "That was already my plan. Even if it wasn't, it's not like I'm allowed on their land anyway."

"Good, and there's no need to roll your eyes at me dear."

"Sorry," she replied anxious to get to the next topic. "And how about my vampire problem?"

The blonde simply leaned back in her seat and smiled at the young girl. "I don't see a problem."

"I can't date two vampires, even if at the moment they don't seem to be trying to kill each other, how long do you think that will last after the shock of me admitting to killing someone wears off?"

"It will work out dear, why don't you read that book on bonds I bought for you a few years ago? Perhaps that will help you."

Emily glared at the woman, "How is reading a book I read when I was fourteen going to help me?"

"Because you obviously didn't take much from it if you are asking me for help."

"Fine, but you telling me would make life so much simpler."

"True, but I have to run there is a meeting tonight and as you know tardiness is frowned upon by the Dark Lord. I was hoping to check on Dragon before I attend but I need to head out now if I wish to make that happen."

Sighing Emily nodded instantly feeling her annoyance leave her at the reminder of what those closest to her were risking. "Well, be safe as always and tell Dray hello if you can. Don't worry about inquiring about the tribe too much, their knowledge of recent events just worried me briefly."

"As it should dear, we need to know if they are somehow connected to one of the people here. Severus and I have a lot of practice in these areas. Don't fret too much just go read that book, alright?"

"Will do, have a good night."

"And you have a lovely day, enjoy your vampires!" With a wink the blonde woman vanished from the mirror.

Summoning the book on bonds to her she put it on her bed and moved to get dressed. There was one other person she needed to talk to before she could read.

Walking into the police station Emily smiled and waved at the few people who were there. Forks being so small had no real need for a large police force, at most there were three officers other than her father in the building at a time. Making her way to the lone office in the precinct Emily knocked on her father's door.

"Come in."

Smiling at her father she moved to give the man a hug who looked surprised to see her. "What are you doing her kiddo?"

"I got lonely," she said moving to sit in the chair in front of her father's desk.

"Uh huh," Charlie gave his daughter a look that clearly said he didn't believe her. "Where are Jasper and Edward?"

"At their home answering questions, which is why I'm really here," Emily said leaning back in her chair. "The tribe contacted the Cullens to warn them about me."

Emily watched as her father's face barely twitched but she could tell from the stiffness in his body that he was likely seething inside. "And what did they tell the Cullens?"

"They warned them that I was dangerous and could kill them, pointing out I had injured a member of their tribe in the past."

"So all the Cullens know what you are now?" he asked looking down at his hands as he tried to get over the betrayal of his old friends.

"If they don't they will soon. Jasper and Edward will have to tell them something, they tried to cut the elders off from saying much but enough was said that the coven has been bothering the boys to answer their questions all night. They went home to try and ease them into the idea of having such a dangerous being around…" Emily finished sarcastically wiggling her fingers in the air.

Charlie smirked slightly at his daughter's antics only to frown. While she joked he knew enough that she was far more dangerous to the vampires than they ever could be to her. Would they see her magic as a threat and try to eliminate her or would they simply let her be since two of the members of their coven seemed to be quite taken with her? For that matter one of those boys was supposed to be dating his other daughter, but that was another problem to be dealt with later.

"Dad, I have to ask you something," Emily said sitting up and drawing her father away from his thoughts. "Did you ever talk to Billy about the things I go through back in London? Or maybe share something Remus or Sirius might have said to you?"

Seeing her father's questioning look she elaborated, "I know while I might try to protect you that you still get a lot of information from my meddling dogfather and wolf. I just was wondering if you shared anything with Billy because the tribe seemed to know a lot more than they should."

"To be honest kiddo, I never speak about you to Billy. It's a sore topic and he was the only friend who was even willing to see me after what happened with Paul." Seeing Emily open her mouth, likely to apologize Charlie held up his hand to stop her. "Don't be sorry for something that was never your fault. I love you and will always be on your side. I can't tell you where they are getting their information but I'm pissed that they would break their agreement to remain silent."

Shrugging Emily stood and moved to hug her father again, "We'll figure it out dad, we always do."

When Edward and Jasper arrived home it was to find a house of anxious vampires. They had all congregated in the living room after receiving a text that the two men were planning on coming home for a bit. Joining their family they waited for the onslaught of questions that was no doubt coming.

They were surprised when instead, with a look towards the rest of the family, Carlisle cleared his throat and took a step towards them, "How are you boys feeling now?"

"We're fine," Jasper answered the man shortly. The doctor was calm but he could sense the slight undertone of worry in his emotions.

"Do you feel up to telling us what is going on?" the older vampire asked. Carlisle knew the boys needed to be calm and open to talking otherwise the family's questions could be seen as threatening to the vampires causing them to potentially lash out in an attempt to protect the girl.

"Emily has agreed that we may answer a few of your questions but as she doesn't know you I would ask that you respect the little knowledge we share."

Nodding Carlisle agreed, "Of course."

"Carlisle…" Alice started but was silenced with a sharp look from the man.

"Emily is a witch," Edward began only to be cut off by Emmett's scoff.

"Dude magic's not real. Carlisle, is it possible for vampires to go crazy? Maybe he needs to feed, his eyes are looking a little dark."

Rolling his eyes at his brother Edward continued, "It's very real to her, if there are vampires walking the earth why not witches as well? Jasper and I have both seen her perform magic. She can summon objects to her, make rooms larger… there's not much I think she can't do."

At Jasper's nod of agreement Emmett's eyes seemed to get wider, "No way! Can I see?!"

Jasper shook his head in amusement, "You should be careful Em she's quite the prankster."

"She has a thing for turning hair pink," Edward added running a hand through his copper hair.

"So when the Quileutes said she wasn't human, it was because she is a witch," Carlisle said trying to bring the focus back to their original line of questioning. Though inwardly the doctor couldn't contain his wonder at the idea of magic. He wondered what was different about her body's chemistry that allowed her to use 'magic'.

Hearing his father's thoughts Edward couldn't help but smile at the man, "She described it to me as something that runs through her veins. She said it was like a force that builds up inside of her allowing her to cast her spells."

"Apparently not everyone has the same amount of magic running through them from what I can understand," Jasper said realizing the blonde's curiosity was likely born of his medical background. "Emily is above average from what I can glean from our conversations."

Nodding his head Carlisle tried to imagine what her DNA must look like, he wondered if having grown up in Forks meant that there was still a file on her at the hospital. "It's quite fascinating."

"Fascinating!" Alice yelled jumping to her feet from her spot on the couch. She had held her tongue long enough and as far as she was concerned the family was taking this all far too lightly. "Carlisle have you lost your mind? Who knows what this girl is capable of?!"

"Alice," the doctor hissed attempting to silence the girl. Both Edward and Jasper were growling in warning at the seer.

"No! I can't see her, Edward has admitted that he can't hear her and now the Quileutes are telling us she is dangerous and all you can say is fascinating! Did you forget the part when they mentioned she harmed one of their wolves or the fact that she has recently killed one?!"

In an instant Jasper had the small seer pinned against the wall by her throat. He could sense the jealousy and anger radiating from her and he had, had enough. "You have no concept of what she has gone through," he growled out staring at the now fearful eyes of the girl in his grasp. "She injured the mutt because he couldn't keep his paws to himself as for taking the life of a werewolf that isn't a story you have yet earned the right to hear."

Carlisle moved to place himself in front of Edward who looked as if he wanted to join Jasper. "Jasper," he called out trying to maintain a sense of calm. "Let her go. I promise she is no threat to Emily."

With a final warning growl and a tight squeeze to Alice's neck he let her drop to the floor where she gasped for her unneeded breath.

Rosalie stood as an awkward silence fell over the room and began to walk towards the double doors. "Well I would love to meet her," she said smiling in the direction of her brothers. She radiated calm there was no fear only a slight curiosity which seemed to calm Jasper down enough to nod in her direction. "I'm going for a hunt, Em I'll be back shortly." With that the beautiful blonde dashed into the woods and vanished from the family's view.

Emmett turned from where his wife had just left and took in the still tense stances of his brothers before something occurred to him, "Are you both seeing this girl?!"

Carlisle sat down and dropped his head into his hands, leave it to his youngest son to point out the obvious but problematic truth.


	6. Chapter 6

Power mates, the phrase played over in Emily's mind. Is this what Cissa had been referring to? It certainly seemed to fit her situation but _mates_ , plural, the idea seemed crazy to her.

A knock at the window drew Emily's attention. Getting up she opened her window and took a step back to allow the two vampires space to jump into her room.

"Is my front door broken?" She asked as Jasper leaned in to kiss her hello.

"Human," was his simple reply.

Laughing Emily turned to kiss Edward, "Speaking of the muggle, she came looking for you after you left this morning."

Shaking his head Edward looked to the door and sighed, "I should probably take care of this but after, we all need to talk."

Emily nodded her head in agreement, "We should, we'll be right here when you're done."

As Edward walked out of the room Jasper moved to take Emily into his arms. "How are you feeling darlin'?"

"What, can't you tell?" she teased smirking up at the blonde.

"I can but you feel like a crazy mix of emotions, there's happiness, confusion, worry… it's like your emotions are going a million different directions."

"It's nothing too major if I'm honest. My day hasn't been all that exciting, I've talked to Cissa, went to the station to inform my father about the tribe and then did some reading. Being home my worries are so minimal it's almost like I'm a normal being for a little while."

"And back in London you aren't considered normal?" Jasper asked truly curious.

Emily leaned her head into the vampire's chest and laughed, "My life is nowhere near normal even for my kind."

"Do you wish you were normal?"

Sighing the witch shook her head, "No, I can't imagine a life different than the one I have. Even with all the insane adventures and darkness that seems to plague me I couldn't see myself being truly happy as anything else. I certainly don't want to be a muggle and I certainly don't think I could ever be okay with simply being your average witch in a 'normal' family. My oddities have brought me great loss but I've gained a lot through all of it as well. Doesn't mean that it's not nice to pretend."

Leaning down Jasper kissed the top of her head. "Well how about pretending to be normal for a few hours tonight to meet the rest of the Cullens properly?"

"Are you asking me to meet your parents?" Emily teased.

"And the siblings, Emmett is dying for a magic show."

Edward hesitated before knocking on Bella's door, he worried about the possible fallout of what he was about to do. This human knew his secret making leaving her alive with that knowledge dangerous to him and his family's existence. Perhaps he should go back and discuss this with Emily and Jasper before acting rashly.

"Edward?" his name made the vampire curse internally, he really needed to pay better attention, what good was having enhanced senses if you didn't use them and could be caught off guard by a human.

Looking down at the girl who seemed a tad shocked to see him standing at her door Edward attempted to smile, "I thought we could talk."

"Sure, I was just going to grab a snack but it can wait," the human said with a shrug.

Edward gave a slight nod as he followed Bella into her room, taking a place not far from the door. The girl frowned at his choice to remain standing instead of joining her on her bed. Patting the space next to her she smiled at him in a way that internally made him cringe, had he really found that attractive before? "Edward, join me. You haven't stayed with me for the past few days."

The vampire scoffed at the girl's complaint, "For that to happen, you would actually have to be here at night."

Bella looked at Edward with confusion, "I was here last night."

"How was I to know? Did you ever think that, like your disappearing acts, sometimes I have other places I want to be?"

"I don't disappear," the girl sighed rolling her eyes. "I go to the reservation, it's no big deal. Charlie is friends with everyone down there, I can't just avoid the place because you seem to not be comfortable with the tribe."

Edward shook his head, as far as he knew Charlie rarely went onto the reservation. Billy Black would often come to the house to watch games on his friend's big screen but it seemed Charlie had cut ties with most everyone else in the tribe. "I guess I must have missed something, I have never known your father to spend much time on the reservation."

Bella shrugged, "He does and Charlie likes me to go with him when he goes down there."

"I see, so the other night Charlie insisted on the two of you going to the reservation to have a few drinks?" Edward watched as the girl's eyes got wide. She blinked a few times but mostly just stared at the vampire obviously unsure of how to reply. "You see I was here that night, I distinctly remember you falling up the stairs and your father, who had been asleep, having to get out of bed to carry you to your room."

"I…"

Edward raised a hand to stop the girl, "I don't need explanations Isabella. I think I have made a grave mistake in my actions towards you since you moved to Forks. I should have simply stayed away from you but your blood kept drawing me in…"

"No, we love each other!" Bella exclaimed jumping up onto her knees on the bed. "We can't be apart, we learned that in Phoenix!"

"What we learned is that I involved you in a world I had no right to and for that I apologize. It was my own weaknesses that brought us to this point."

"Edward, what are you saying?" fear seemed to enter the girl's eyes at his words. Sitting back on her legs her hands began to fiddle in her lap.

Edward tilted his head slightly trying to feel sympathy for what he was about to do but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the human. It seemed any emotions he had held for her had completely dissolved away. "I'm not right for you Isabella."

"Yes you are, one day I'll be just like you! Alice has seen it!" Tears began to form in the girl's eyes as she jumped off her bed and moved towards the vampire.

Side stepping the human Edward moved to open the door, "Alice's visions can change…"

"Based on people's choices!" Bella yelled desperately. "You don't have to choose this."

"I refuse to live a lie Isabella, I don't love you." Without so much as a glance backwards Edward left the human to her tears as he made his way back to where he knew he belonged.

Without thinking Edward grabbed the knob and opened the door to Emily's room. Looking back at the door curiously as he shut it he heard a laugh come from behind him. "Did the door do something to you?"

Turning to see Emily sitting on her bed with Jasper on the bench beside her, he moved to join them, "I'm surprised I was able to get into your room so easily. I would have thought the door would be locked with humans in the house."

"It usually is but we thought you might need a quick escape so I unlocked it," pointing her wand at the door Emily cast a locking charm before smiling at the copper headed vampire. "There, the room is once again secure."

Shaking his head at the witch's antics he settled down on the bed beside her, "What have you two been doing?"

"Not much," Jasper offered. "She was just telling me about the time she set a snake on her cousin."

Edward raised his eyes at Emily a bit shocked, "Your pet snake?"

"No," Emily laughed shaking her head. "Dad had it in his head that it would be a good idea, before I started at Hogwarts, to reach out to the only relatives I have alive back in England. My mom's sister lives in Surrey with her whale of a husband and son.

In an attempt to make nice we all went to the zoo. My cousin tried to shove me out of the way when I was talking to a snake in the reptile house. Dudley had been getting on my nerves all day and my magic finally reacted, the glass vanished that was keeping the snake in her enclosure and he happened to fall into it. It wasn't that big of a deal it snapped at his feet a little and slithered off never to be seen again."

Jasper chuckled at the image of a chubby boy falling into a snake habitat, "How large was the snake?"

"It was just a boa constrictor."

"Are they magical too?" Edward asked.

"The snake?"

"No your family in Surrey," Edward amended, curious as to why she would have been adopted by Charlie if she had living relatives back in England.

"Not at all, they are as muggle as they come," Emily smirked. "They kept yelling that I was a freak and needed to be kept away from their precious 'Dudders'. Dad was so annoyed I thought he was going to punch Petunia just to shut her up. Needless to say we never saw them again."

"And why are you feeling so mischievous?" Jasper inquired raising an eyebrow at the witch. Her amusement had him biting back his own laughter.

"I may have sent them sweet packages over the years that have adverse effects," she answered.

"Like…"

"Well for example, some friends of mine developed a candy called Ton-Tongue Toffee, which causes the tongue to rapidly swell and turn colors. From Aunt Petunia's lengthy message to dad it took them five hours before they could figure out how to reverse it."

"Five hours? How did they reverse it?"

"He just had to swallow the small white candy that comes in the package as well. All the prank candies have easy reversals otherwise I doubt they would be so popular." Emily smiled as she remembered working through the test phases of the candy with the twin Demons as she liked to refer to Fred and George. They had far too much fun brewing in the dungeons over the years and she had missed their presence this past year.

"You know, apparently a swollen tongue wasn't enough to stop Dudley from trying more of the candy I sent because a week later he ate another sweet from the box and became extremely nauseous for a full day until the effects wore off on their own."

"They didn't just throw out the candy?"

"I don't really know why they still had it, my best guess is that Dudley is so much of a pig that he took some and tried to hide it. He's not that brilliant maybe he forgot who sent it," Emily said leaning back on the bed. "Either way Dad's reaction was the best, he didn't know whether to be angry at me or amused so he just pretended it never happened. Though I'm pretty sure he still has the letter she sent him and that he reads it for a good laugh."

"So I'm confused," Edward spoke up. "Why do they know about magic, didn't you say they were muggles?"

"Petunia is my birth mom's sister by blood, immediate family is allowed the knowledge."

"If they knew why did you come to live with Charlie and not them?" At Emily's curious look he elaborated. "Well Charlie's a muggle too, so I'm curious why they didn't put you with someone who already knew about magic."

"My dad has known about magic his whole life, he's what we call a squib. He was born to magical parents but he lacks magic or at least enough of it to use it himself."

"So then your grandparents are magical," Jasper concluded. "Do they live close to Forks?"

"I've never actually met them. My dad's mom was really close to my biological grandmother Dorea Black who became a Potter through marriage. Grandma Swan was married to a wealthy wizard here in the states but they kept in touch and often visited each other. It's confusing but basically both of my dads' parents were together in England when they were killed shortly before my parents were."

"Did they live in Forks before then?"

"No, they lived in Seattle closer to the magical community there, my dad was raised here by a good family friend who he called Aunt Helen. Every summer though when the families got together my dad would join them and in turn became close friends with my biological father James. Eventually when I was born my parents decided that should anything happen to them the best thing for me was to come and live with Charlie in the states. He knew enough about the magical world to be able to help me but was also far enough away from the chaos in England that I would be safe."

"Charlie wasn't raised by his parents?" Edward asked confused, why would a couple give away their child if they were perfectly capable of raising them?

Emily gave a little shrug, "It's not really that uncommon in my world. He needed things that his parents couldn't help him with. Education is completely different for one and he would face a lot of prejudice among wizards, there aren't really jobs for squibs unless you want to be a grumpy janitor forever."

"Would you give up your child if they were born without magic?"

"I honestly don't know and they didn't just give my dad up they still saw him. I guess to be honest I haven't really thought about the possibility of children too deeply to consider what I would do if one was born a squib, first and foremost, right now I need to focus on my own survival."

"Your survival…" Jasper prompted the witch who simply smiled back at him before closing her eyes and turning her head up towards the ceiling. The boys watched her as she appeared to be soaking up the rays of an invisible sun above her recalling something they couldn't see.

"As the seventh month dies, the girl who stands on the divide… will be born to those of light, aided by darkness does destiny she fight… to face the Dark Lord and end his reign, she is called through endless pain… by the dark she is marked and drawn, with powers unknown does she stand strong… one must die by the hand of the other, for while one lives the other does not prosper… as the seventh month dies, the girl who stands on the divide… will be born to those of light, aided by darkness does destiny she fight…"

Both vampires felt a chill run through them as they heard the words Emily spoke. The implications of what had been said frightened them even though neither one truly understood it completely. They both sat patiently afraid to break the silence as they waited for Emily to explain.

"That was the prophecy made about me before my birth. It's rather simple I don't identify as purely light or dark so I'm grey, 'on the divide'. My parents were considered light and I was born to them on July 31st, 'as the seventh month dies'. It is my destiny to kill the Dark Lord or be killed by him. He 'marked' me by darkness the night he killed my parents," Emily said flicking her wrist, suddenly the boys could see a lightning bolt scar on her forehead that she had never shown them before.

"The Dark Lord had a spy who overheard the prophecy being told which spurred him into action to kill my family once I arrived. He obviously failed to kill me that night and I grew up here with Charlie. Since going back to London he and I have faced off almost every year, though his objectives have shifted slightly. He no longer wishes me dead, he wishes me to be his wife."

Emily smiled as she heard both vampires growl at her words. Sitting back up properly she allowed each man to take one of her hands as they calmed their instincts. She almost laughed when Jasper quieted enough to emit a scoff, "Wife, doesn't it say one of you must kill the other?"

"Ah, therein lies his weakness. The spy was discovered and kicked out of the pub before he had heard the entire prophecy. The Dark Lord has only ever heard up to the line about my 'unknown powers'."

"What does this mean concerning all of us?" Edward asked. For the first time he truly felt worry over what his endless future held. Would he be forced to say goodbye to this woman before he truly got to know her, would she pick Jasper over him, would she even survive when she left to return to London, would she let him go with her even if she didn't want him as her mate?

Shrugging Emily laid back on her bed and covered her eyes with a sigh, "I have no idea how everything is going to play out anymore honestly. We had so many plans in place but everything changed when William was killed. Now I have to come up with new strategies and deal with this power mates bond in the meantime."

"Power _mates_?" Jasper questioned, emphasizing her use of the plural while reaching out to rub the witch's leg.

"Are you two good at sharing?" she asked peeking out from behind her arm to look at the boys on her bed.

"Sharing?" Edward asked looking over at Jasper who seemed equally perplexed at what she was hinting.

"The book describes it best," Emily said reaching out a hand to summon the tome on bonds to her. Handing it to Jasper she pushed herself back up and got off the bed. "Why don't you two read the section I've marked in there while I get ready, I believe I was told that I would be meeting the parents tonight."

After calling her father to let him know where she was going Emily handed her keys over to Jasper and climbed into the back seat of her car. Neither vampire had said much to her when she had announced she was ready to go, she figured the idea of sharing a mate was a hard idea to swallow for the boys.

She wasn't sure how this would all work out but from what she read her magic would begin to bond the vampires to her from their first meeting, growing stronger over time. Being dark creatures with vast strength her magic sought them out partially for protection but also because it recognized some sort of compatibility between them. The full effects of the bond were mostly unknown since no one in the past few centuries had been powerful enough to need it or perhaps they were just smart enough not to call attention to themselves.

Looking out the window she watched the beautiful scenery pass her. It didn't seem to take long before they began to take the turn off to the Cullen's home. "Jazz, stop the car!"

Hitting the breaks both vampires turned around in their seats examining the witch trying to determine what was wrong. "Are you okay darlin'?"

Emily couldn't contain her giggle at the vampires' worried looks, "I'm sorry I just remembered I owe you something. I'll be right back!"

Jumping out of the car Emily ran to the edge of the driveway, she could feel the vampires watching her curiously. Keeping her back to the boys she cast a slight disillusionment charm. She worked quickly at her task knowing there was only so much time Edward and Jasper would allow her before coming to check on her themselves.

Satisfied with her work she removed the charm and ran back to the car, quickly climbing back in with a smile. When both boys continued to stare at her she rolled her eyes and leaned forward to kiss them each on the cheek, "Let's go, I have a coven to properly meet."

"What did you do?" Jasper asked as he started to drive down the long driveway again.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," Emily shrugged leaning back in her seat as they pulled up in front of the large house.

When they parked Emily waited for Jasper and Edward to come help her out of the car before exiting. Taking Jasper's arm the two followed Edward up the steps and into the house. Emily wanted to laugh as the three entered the sitting room to see the oversized vampire Emmett screaming at a video game. The boys led Emily to the sofa and took places on either side of her.

"If it isn't the little enchantress," Emmett said turning his head to look at the trio. "THE WITCH IS HERE!"

Emily couldn't contain her laughter at his words, "I'm pretty sure the heartbeat already gave me away."

"Hello dear," Esme greeted as she entered the room. Emily stood to meet the woman and was a tad shocked to find herself in a hug. When she was released the woman walked over to her youngest son and smacked the back of his head playfully, "And you, where are your manners?"

"Sorry mom," Emmett replied sheepishly as he turned off his game and put his controller down.

"Hello Emily," Carlisle said as walked up behind his wife and kissed the side of her head. "I'm glad you came to visit."

"I appreciate the invite really," Emily responded leaning back into the couch and taking one of each boys' hands in hers, an action that didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room. "When I'm in Forks I tend to find myself pretty restricted to my father's house. I walk the trails a bit or go to the grocery store but I can get a bit of cabin fever after having so much space to roam about during the year."

"Is your school large then?" Esme asked seating herself across from the trio.

"It's an old castle actually, built specifically by our founders to be a school. It's so large it has a hundred and forty two staircases if you can believe it."

"You know how many staircases your school has?" Emmett exclaimed looking at her as if she was a bit bonkers.

"It's in one of the books written about my school called _Hogwarts, A History_. Book is rather boring but it has useful tips. For instance a lot of the staircases move, often changing direction when you're on it, some lead to different corridors depending on the day and some have vanishing steps that you have to remember or you get stuck until someone comes to help you," Emily answered thinking back to the time she had found poor Neville Longbottom stuck in one of the staircases. The unfortunate boy seemed to lack much luck or a good memory as she had found him in their fifth year on one of the most used staircases from the library to the Entrance Hall.

Esme leaned forward with a slight frown on her face, "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"Sure," Emily shrugged. "But we're children learning magic, everything has the potential to be dangerous."

"What sort of things do you study?" Carlisle spoke up rubbing Esme's shoulder.

"Everyone studies Potions, History, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy and Defense Against the Dark Arts. When you enter your third year you have the option to add Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination or Muggle Studies. Usually people pick two of those classes to add to their schedules."

"What did you add?" Edward asked giving her hand a light squeeze to draw her attention.

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, but I dropped COMC after I took my OWLs in fifth year. I didn't really have time for the class and if I had any real need to know about a creature, I have a friend who is a specialist working on a Dragon Reserve in Romania."

"Dragons are real?!" Emmett said looking excitedly at the witch.

"Most 'mythical' creatures are," she answered with a smirk. "Unicorns, centaurs, merepeople… you name it and it probably exists."

"What about math and the sciences?" Carlisle asked, worried that the magical education seemed to be lacking some major subjects but then again he could only guess at some of the topics that were covered from what she had listed off.

"Math and human anatomy are things students are expected to be tutored on before entering school. People who want to be Healers will go on to study more in depth anatomy and biology type classes for a year after leaving school through the hospital they are interning at but other than that the responsibility falls to the parents or family to tutor the students."

Frowning Carlisle rested his hands on his knees, "I would argue that those two topics are the most vital to society, why leave it to outside help instead of offering it in schools?"

"While I agree that there should at least be tutoring offered through the schools because not all families can afford it, I would counter that for magical society they're not as vital of topics unless entering a medical career or a field based in combat. We are already far more advanced medically then muggles, it's why if you try to find a record of me at the hospital you will come back empty handed."

Carlisle nodded slightly, the girl was right, when he had checked that morning he had not found a record on her and Charlie's record seemed to be pretty clean for someone in law enforcement even in this small town.

"If you haven't looked for my name yet I'm certain you've noticed Charlie's record is basically nonexistent even though as a child growing up here he had a few falls and broke his arm a time or two with his love of climbing trees."

"I had noticed it was abnormally empty for a male who spent his whole life in this town, especially compared to Bella's who is packed with accidents."

"Bella is a clumsy muggle, being that she has no magic Charlie nor I can offer her any assistance magically. Most of our potions wouldn't work anyway, you need magic within you for them to be effective."

"But isn't Charlie a 'muggle' as you put it?" Carlisle asked. "He has a record of going to the local schools, or is there a magical school close by?"

"Charlie is a squib, while he can't use magic he has enough magic in him to be able to react to potions. All his broken bones as a child were healed over night with a little Skelegrow."

"Overnight?" Carlisle said a bit astonished. What an amazing feat to be able to heal so quickly, if only the potions worked for all humans.

Cringing slightly of the memory of her vanished bones Emily nodded, "But it's painful."

"Speaking from experience there?" Emmett teased.

At the curious looks from Jasper and Edward, Emily decided to explain. "In my second year there was a teacher who thought himself rather brilliant when in reality he was a complete dunce. My arm was crushed by a Bludger during a match…"

"What's a bludger?" Emmett asked slightly bouncing up and down in his seat excited at all he was learning.

"It's a ball in Quidditch, which is a wizarding sport." Emily answered, she had a feeling the oversized vampire would want to know more about Quidditch later, she would have to bring him her copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages_. "Anyway the bludger broke my arm and at the end of the match the idiot 'professor' thought he'd show off by fixing it. Instead of healing my arm he vanished all the bones in it. I spent the night in the hospital wing regrowing my bones, it was not a pleasant experience."

"They let a person like that teach at your school?" Esme questioned looking a tad worried about a man who instead of healing a student harmed them further. "Or is that spell easy to mistake?"

"I can heal fractures myself, it's a simple enough spell for anyone who cares to learn but healing a broken bone takes a little more finesse. I'm sure I could if I wanted or needed to but a teacher should easily be able to, it's just Lockhart wasn't really a teacher but he was the only person willing to take the job."

"Is it hard to find people to teach?"

"Only for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, it's rumored to be cursed. No teacher has lasted more than a year in the post since Dumbledore refused to hire the Dark Lord."

"Ooooh, sounds creepy, the Dark Lord," Emmett said wiggling his fingers as if he was trying to spook the others. "If the Dark Lord can't have the job no one can."

"Yep, pretty much," Emily said nodding her head in agreement. Which made Emmett quite down he thought she had been joking about the curse. "Every teacher I've had has barely made it out with their life by the end of the year. Tom is rather vindictive when he doesn't get his way."

"The Dark Lord dude is named Tom? No wonder he goes by the Dark Lord who would be scared of Tom? Oh no, everybody run here comes the great and powerful Tom!" Emmett said holding his hands close to his mouth as if shrinking in terror. Emily laughed at his antics, she could live with having Emmett around, he reminded her of the theatrical twin Demons back in England.

Emily jumped slightly as she felt Edwards phone begin to go off in his pocket. She often forgot about muggle technology having no need for a phone herself.

Edward for his part sighed when he noticed who was calling. Deciding to answer it he put the phone on speaker so Emily wouldn't be the only one left out of the conversation.

"Hello Isabella," Edward said reluctantly.

"Edward where are you?!" the human practically yelled into the phone.

"Isabella, I am at my home with my family."

"Where is your house?" she screeched, it sounded to everyone as if she was hitting something in the background.

"Where it's always been, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to come over right now Isabella."

Emily had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop her laughter which drew curious glances from the vampires in the room.

"No I need to see you!" the girl sounded desperate. "But every time I think I'm where I'm supposed to be I find myself driving away and I don't know what's going on."

Emily couldn't help as a bit of laughter escaped. Turning she attempted to bury her face in Jasper's chest to help herself cover the noise.

"Isabella, I think it's best if you go home," Edward said glancing down at Emily before raising an eyebrow at Jasper who shrugged and shook his head, not knowing himself what was so funny to the witch. "I'm not sure how you're out but from my understanding you are already in enough trouble with Charlie."

"Who cares about that, when I'm like you I won't be able to see him anyway."

Sighing Edward pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers in annoyance. He didn't think he could put up with her if she was planning on constantly trying to throw herself back in his path. First and foremost he was going to have to change phone numbers so she would stop calling him… looking at Emily he wondered briefly if she would be angry if he let Rosalie go with her original plan to end the human before quickly shaking himself of the thought. "Isabella, we've been over this, you are never going to be like me."

"But we can't be apart! You love me!"

"He loves your blood," Emily mumbled causing a chuckle to come from the three Cullen brothers.

Edward coughed slightly to cover his laugh, "Isabella, I don't love you."

"You do!" the room could tell the human was crying now. "Just tell me how to get to your house again!"

"Go home Isabella, before your father finds out you somehow snuck out." With that Edward hung up his phone and looked down to where Emily was still laughing into Jasper's side.

"Want to explain why the human can't find our house little darlin'?" Jasper asked looking down at the girl in his arms.

"I believe you earned a muggle repelling ward the other day," Emily shrugged smiling up at the vampire.

"So she really can't find the house?"

"Well she can but every time she gets too close she suddenly will find herself remembering somewhere else she has to be right at that moment."

"Man, my Rosie is going to love you! Just wait till I tell her what you've done she might kiss you!" Emmett said excitedly as he pulled out his phone and began texting. Emily shook her head and leaned into Jasper making sure to reach out and grab one of Edward's hands.

Carlisle stared at the girl sat between two of his sons and wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. He guessed only time would tell, for now he would sit back and watch as she seemed to be accepting both of his sons' affections. How could he say anything when they both looked happy as they joked around with the witch? Looking over at Emmett he almost burst out laughing, his gentle giant of a son now had pink hair. Perhaps things were about to get a lot more lively in his home then they had been in years.


	7. Chapter 7

"I can offer you the world Emily…" an elegant hand reached out toward where she sat on a large rock in the forest behind her childhood home. "I have watched you for years, you have grown into a beautiful woman and you will only grow stronger by my side."

Hesitating Emily stared at the hand in front of her, it would be so simple all she had to do was take it.

"Come back with me, you don't belong here anymore…"

Sighing Emily knew he was right. She felt so limited since coming back to Forks, she had grown far too use to her freedom back in England. While she loved her father she was never meant to live among the muggles and every day she could feel her magic push against its confines unable as she was to truly practice her magic. Nodding her head she looked up into the familiar red eyes and took his hand.

He smiled at her, the one she knew only she was allowed to see, as he pulled her into his chest. He leaned down and she felt his lips against hers, melting into his embrace Emily reached up to put her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her.

Panting Emily abruptly sat up in her bed and tried to catch her breath. As she calmed she was glad the boys had insisted they needed to hunt while she was sleeping. She doubted she could deal with the questions they would ask her, especially Jasper since he would be able to sense her current emotions.

Leaning back against her headboard the witch took a deep breath as she looked around the room. It was still dark outside, which meant she probably hadn't been asleep all that long. The boys wouldn't be back until morning, they had promised Emmett a full night of hunting bears.

Rolling her eyes at the thought of the three vampires chasing bears around the forest Emily took a drink of water from the glass she had left on her nightstand. Why the vampires chose to chase animals around was still beyond her. From the corner of her eye Emily noticed a glow coming from her desk. Extending her hand she set down the water glass and summoned a black notebook to her. Running her hands along the leather the witch opened the book only to smile, recognizing the familiar writing within it.

 _You are with vampires?! I thought Forks was safe, you said 'nothing of deep import' then you throw in the blood pop line. Vampires?! Really Em?_

Laughing Emily grabbed a pen from her nightstand to reply. Leave it to Draco to figure out her subtle hints and panic.

 _They are veggie vamps, hardly something I'd consider dangerous._

 _Veggie vamps… as in they drink animal blood?_

 _Yup_

 _You mean they really exist? I thought the whole living off animal blood was a joke._

 _I wish it was._

 _Doesn't that make them weaker though, I can't imagine it would be all that satisfying…_

 _There's not much written about it, but I believe it makes them weaker to a degree. I'd prefer them to drink human blood but baby steps, magic is new to them. Not to mention the whole bond thing…_

 _Bond thing?_

 _According to mum they are my power mates…_

 _Merlin Em, only you._

 _Isn't that the truth, though I'm glad you were able to figure out my clues. I was worried with how vague I had to be._

 _Of course I did, how could you ever doubt my skills?_

 _I never doubted you._

 _Good._

 _How did it go over with the Dark Lord?_

 _He obviously knew you would hide information in the letter to me, so he demanded I explain every little phrase that seemed odd to him. He was certainly curious about the blood pop comment until I explained that the twins giving you blood pops was a standing joke between all of you. I told him that was your way of telling me they were somehow with you or helping you._

 _Are the twins in a safe place?_

 _As far as I know they are using Grimmauld as you and Bill instructed them to. But to be honest I have very little freedom here. Because of my connection to you he keeps me close._

 _Lucky you…_

 _So very lucky…_

 _How are you healing? I'm sorry you had to get hurt._

 _It's not your fault, I knew the risk I was taking when we all agreed for me to take the mark._

 _I know, but I worry. You know how I get._

 _I do and I also know this notebook was not something you intended to give Bill, this was his… Em you didn't have to send this. We could have found another way or figured out how he had charmed them to make another one._

 _Things change, I needed to be able to talk to you and this was the safest way. Plus I don't have any of his notes to go through to find how he managed the charm._

 _Where are all his things?_

 _Besides what he had with him that night at the castle, still locked away in the townhouse. I didn't have time to go there, I had to leave as quickly as possible._

 _Do you think there could be any in your room here at the Manor?_

 _Perhaps, but I can't be sure. He liked to keep those things with him._

 _I'll talk to mum and see if she found anything when she went through your room._

 _I miss home and my room._

Staring at the page before her Emily realized how truthful that statement was. Malfoy Manor had become her home. It was where she spent all her holidays, where she had lived when she was in England before moving in with William (something she hadn't told her father about but he likely suspected anyway after his visit last summer), she even had her own suite in the Manor which she had tried to fashion her current room after but nothing could really compare.

 _It's not really as we remember it, I barely recognize that this is the home I grew up in anymore. As for your room, I doubt you'll ever want it back…_

 _What do you mean?_

 _The Dark Lord has taken it over, mum said she went through it as best as she could to remove anything you loved or could give him too much information on you but she couldn't remove too much without it looking suspicious. From what I've heard he hasn't changed anything about the room and he has claimed it as his…_

Of course he had, Emily thought looking away from the notebook. The man probably hoped that it would make her feel more comfortable once she had given in to him.

 _Is there anything else I should know?_

 _Things are progressing a little faster than we had anticipated. I hate to say this but you will need to come back here soon. He has infiltrated the Ministry so deeply he could make it crumble any day now. I think he is waiting on the outcome of our communication. We have maybe a few more letters before he will make his next big move._

 _Is it odd that it both scares and excites me? I know I can't be here much longer, my magic won't let me be. It almost hurts sometimes having to keep it so tightly confined. I wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to give into him. To agree and join him, work together from his side to take him down…_

 _One, we both know that if you were by his side he would force you into some bond which meant you couldn't kill him._

 _But he wouldn't be able to kill me either. If we weakened him, made him truly mortal again someone else could kill him._

 _Yes, maybe that would work but point number two, you'd never be allowed out of his sight for a very long time. Almost all the work would be up to other people and communicating right under his nose would be far harder. Do you really think you could watch from the sidelines?_

Emily shook her head knowing her best friend was right, she would never be able to sit and watch as others completed the dangerous tasks she needed done. Could she give up the life of adventure, hand over something so vital, to other people and trust them to accomplish it while she sat on a throne and watched?

 _And my final point what about your vampire?_

 _You mean vampires._

 _Sure, what about them? Surely the Dark Lord would never put up with them, he'd have the competition eliminated._

 _I don't know what he would do about them, if he was aware of the bond I'm sure he'd tolerate them to some extent…_

 _Em…_

 _Fine, I know you're right. I'm just not sure how we are going to pull this off, without William we won't have the strength of his wards to hide behind as we move. I'll need your help from the second I step in London, you won't be able to wait to meet up with us._

 _We have a few more weeks to plan. Use this time to study some of the warding books, you may not be as good as Bill but I know he taught you a lot and gave you quite a few tomes. We will work it all out._

 _All I do is study. I never thought I'd say it but I'm getting sick of my books, I need to be home._

 _Soon Em, but we can't rush._

…

 _Glaring at the notebook isn't going to do you any good._

 _How do you know I'm glaring at it?_

…

 _You're raising an eyebrow at me aren't you?_

 _Yes, I am and it's just a few more weeks. Do you know where you want to start?_

 _I think so but I need to talk to Sirius to be sure. I just don't know how to contact him safely…_

 _I'll talk to mum when I see her today, but for now I need to go. The Dark Lord is expecting me for breakfast. I'm sorry, I can't talk to you longer._

 _I'll be fine, just be careful please._

 _Who do you think I am, a rash Gryffindor?_

 _No, never could one take you for a lion._

 _Good._

 _Love you, Dray._

 _Love you too, Em. I'll talk to you soon!_

Emily sighed as Draco's writing vanished from the page. She missed her best friend deeply and she felt horrible that while she was sitting in a bed, safely far away from England, he was risking everything living with the Dark Lord himself.

Tossing the now empty notebook onto her nightstand Emily laid back down in her bed using one of her arms to cover her eyes. She could feel her magic pulsing under her skin, taking a deep breath she allowed it free to saturate the room.

Jasper and Edward slowed as they approached the Swan residence. They had told Emily they would be hunting for the night but both had been feeling restless and Emmett finally annoyed by their behavior had let them head back early.

It was dark and so they made their way to the window of Emily's room. Hoping in the process that they wouldn't wake any of the humans in the house.

Opening the window and jumping in both vampires stood frozen as they were hit with an almost suffocating feeling. Magic pulsed freely through the room, wrapping itself around them. Looking to the bed they noticed the sheets were slightly ruffling at the edges and the flames from the few lit candles seemed much larger than they should rightly be.

Edward reached for his phone to check the time worried about how long they had left her alone, perhaps they should call Carlisle to check on her. Touching the screen nothing happened. His phone was dead. Motioning to Jasper, the soldier checked his own phone to find it too was dead.

Taking up positions on opposite sides of Emily each boy reached out to gently touch her.

"Darlin'," Jasper whispered leaning forward to move her arm away from her face. "Are you alright?"

The magic in the room began to retract and the vampires instantly felt the pressure from the powerful magic lift, allowing them to properly breathe if they so choose.

"Em," Edward tried sitting himself on the bed and rubbing the arm he was holding.

"I'm fine," Emily sighed opening her eyes. Seeing Jasper's look of disbelief she offered the boys a soft smile for their concern. "I really am fine. My magic is just feeling a tad caged so I let it free for a bit."

"Cagged?"

"I can't use my magic freely here and it gets restless."

"Is it hurting you?" Jasper asked immediately concerned as he took note of her emotions. She was exhausted but there was a slight undertone of pain.

"It's hard to explain," Emily started as she moved herself to be more propped up by her pillows. "Magic is part of who I am, for years I have been using it daily to do even the simplest of tasks. To suddenly have to monitor it, to restrict myself after so many years of it strengthening and growing, is extremely difficult on my body. I can feel it as if it were constantly pressing against my skin trying to break free."

The boys frowned that didn't sound pleasant to either of them and it raised their worry. They knew Emily would have to leave Forks but if her magic was reacting so strongly now, that day would be coming sooner than either would like.

"You're worried," Jasper pointed out tilting his head as he felt a small spike of worry come from the witch.

Emily shrugged slightly as she looked over towards the window. "If I don't allow my magic free or start using it more frequently I'm worried about the backlash. If I get provoked to anger or lose hold of my emotions it's possible that my magic would lash out on its own."

"If you let me, I can help with your emotions." Jasper offered as he rubbed the back of Emily's hand with his thumb. "It's not perfect but while you're here I can help try to curb your emotions away from anger if you like."

Squeezing the empath's hand Emily smiled, "Right now I'll take the help."

Leaning forward Jasper kissed her forehead, "Anything I can do to help you Darlin', I will."

"Thank you," Emily turned her focus to Edward who still had a frown on his face. Shaking her hand that he was holding she decided to change the topic. "How was hunting bears with Emmett?"

"Messy," Edward said looking down at the random blood splatters on his clothes. "He has way too much fun provoking the bears into a fight before he drinks from them."

"You should have seen his shirt by the time we left him," Jasper added. "It was shredded so perfectly that it looked fake, almost as if he bought the shirt that way."

"Distressing is very in fashion right now," Emily laughed as she imagined the oversized vampire modeling his ripped tee around the small town of Forks. "Though I bet the blood on the shirt would make people question his sense of style."

"Or maybe they'd think he's a poor excuse for a painter who only uses dark red paint."

Laughing Emily shook her head at the idea. Whoever was crazy enough to let that man paint better be ready for the mess he would make. She could only imagine what the burly vampire would do if given paint and a canvas. "Well why don't you two clean up and I'm going to try and get a little more sleep."

"Sounds good Darlin," Jasper said leaning forward to kiss her forehead once more. Emily watched as the vampire stood and with a nod from Edward moved towards the bathroom.

"We're here now, get some rest," Edward instructed the witch as he laid down on the bed pulling her into his side.

The next morning when Emily woke up it was to find a note on the pillow next to her.

 _In the kitchen come join us when you wake._

Making her way downstairs she found the vampires busy cooking. Leaning against the door frame she smiled as she watched them work.

"You make a better door," a gruff voice came from behind her.

"Sorry Dad," Emily said moving into the room and sitting at the table.

"Morning boys," Charlie greeted the vampires following his daughter into the room.

"Morning Chief," the boys chimed together. Edward brought the two cups of coffee greeting Emily with a quick kiss.

Raising an eyebrow at his daughter Charlie wondered exactly what was going on. He had come home the other night to an empty house, it wasn't long before a distraught Bella had stormed through the door in tears. She had locked herself in her room and Charlie was barely able to get out of her that Edward had broken up with her. Insisting that her life was over Bella refused to come out of her room and as a father Charlie was at a loss at how to deal with her behavior.

He had never had to deal with heartbreak with Emily, she had been away at school when she had broken up with the Diggory boy and from what little he had heard from Sirius, the death of Bill had only made her more determined. So having to deal with one very distressed teenager was new to Charlie and add in the factor that the reason for her pain was in his kitchen making his other daughter breakfast left Charlie utterly clueless on how to handle the situation.

So in an attempt to avoid the topic for now Charlie decided to ask his daughter about something he had noticed when he woke up without an alarm, "Any idea why all the clocks had to be reset this morning?"

Emily shrugged looking at her father, "Power surge."

"Uh huh," Charlie said disbelievingly as he took a sip of his coffee, he was certain she wasn't lying about there being a power surge but he knew it didn't come from the electrical wiring in the house. "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine Dad, no worries okay?"

"I always worry."

"Well why don't you worry about the food these guys are serving us," Emily teased as plates of food were set before her and Charlie by the boys. "Eggs benedict? How did you pull this off?"

"One of Emmett's favorite channels is the Cooking Network," Jasper offered sitting down next to her.

"Really?"

Shrugging the vampire just shook his head, "I have no idea why but it is."

"Well I'm impressed," Emily said moaning as she took her first bite.

"I am too," Charlie nodded in agreement. "Didn't know century old vampires cooked." Charlie quickly quieted and looked at the ceiling.

"Bella's not home," Emily offered taking another bite. "I can't feel her in the wards."

"She snuck out early this morning, someone picked her up," Edward added taking a seat next to the chief. He was slightly uncomfortable sitting next to the man and at the smirk on his brother's face he could feel it and was amused.

Charlie sighed as he took his next bite. Isabella was a handful, she had been drawn to the supernatural since the moment she stepped foot back in Forks. Perhaps it was his fault for having some magic still running through his veins, maybe she naturally sought out things that had a touch of that hidden world in them. It wasn't to say that Emily wasn't a handful as well but he at least knew she had the training to protect herself and unfortunately with her being so far away there was only so much he could do but shake his head once he learned of her latest adventure.

"What are you kids up to today?" Charlie pretended not to notice the boys' smirks when he called them kids. Though he knew them to be quite a bit older than him because they were forever frozen at such young ages his mind would continue to count them as teenagers.

"We're going to the Cullen's for a bit." Emily offered as she stood to put her plate in the sink. Before she could make it a few steps Edward had taken the plate from her and cleaned it.

"Hopefully we can prevent another power surge sir," Jasper added nodding to the chief as he stood up.

"Em…"

"Don't worry Dad, I put a muggle repelling ward around their house." Emily moved to kiss Charlie's forehead as she headed toward the door. "I promise not to destroy the forest too much."

"Muggle repelling ward?" Charlie questioned but turning around all he could hear was Emily's laughter as she disappeared back up to her room followed by the two vampires. Sighing Charlie went back to finishing his breakfast wishing there was a handbook on living with your teenage daughters.


	8. Chapter 8

Turning into the Cullen driveway, Emily noted that the boys seemed tense. She was unsure why until the house came into view, a beautiful blonde woman she remembered was named Rosalie, stood on the steps to the house smiling as the car came to a stop.

Emily waited for the boys to help her from the car and escort her towards the house.

"Em, you remember our sister Rosalie," Edward said gesturing toward where the blonde vampire stood.

"Of course," Emily nodded thinking of their brief encounter when her father had sent her to the Cullen's to retrieve Isabella. "Though I can't say we more than exchanged names."

"Which is why I'm here," Rosalie spoke. Looking over at Jasper she could see her brother eyeing the house warily. "Don't worry so much, she's not here. Her sight went black so she decided she needed to 'clear' her mind with some shopping."

Nodding in approval Jasper moved to touch Emily's back and guide her up the stairs into the house. The two were followed by Edward who had also relaxed and stopped listening for Alice's thoughts at Rosalie's announcement.

Rolling her eyes at her brothers' unease Rosalie reached out and took Emily's hand pulling her towards the stairs. "I believe I have been very patient. It's my turn to get to know your mate, why don't you two boys go play with Emmett while we have some girl time."

"Should I be worried?" Emily asked turning to look at Jasper and Edward. Neither one answered her with more than a shrug but both seemed amused.

Smiling Rosalie turned back to look at Emily, "I promise I don't bite."

"There are probably quite a few animals in the woods who would disagree with you," Emily countered.

Looking back one last time Emily watched as the boys laughed, waving her on as they turned to likely go find Emmett.

Laughing Emily leaned back in the chair she was sitting on by the large window looking out into the forest. Rose was rather fun, it had taken her about five minutes to decide she loved the vampire. It wasn't often she got along with other girls so it was a new feeling to feel so comfortable around one.

"When do you have to go back to school?" Rose asked quieting down as she looked at Emily. The beautiful blonde genuinely seemed saddened at the thought of Emily having to return to Hogwarts.

Emily looked down at her hands, flexing her right hand a few sparks escaped. She quickly clenched her hand in frustration, "Sooner than I had hoped."

"Do you have something to do before your classes start?"

 _Something_ Emily thought sarcastically as she absently nodded her head at the vampire's question. While she was finally meeting people that made her want to stay a little longer in Forks she had a war waiting for her back in Britain. A war that was currently going in her opposition's favor.

Emily could feel Rose's eyes on her, most likely confused by her shift in behavior but the witch couldn't bring herself to speak.

A knock at the door broke the silence in the room. Looking over Emily saw Jasper leaning against the doorframe with his crooked smile, "I'm afraid I've come to steal you."

"Is that so?" Emily smiled instantly feeling her mood shift with the man's presence. She sent him a grateful vibe in return.

"Yes ma'am, the two of you have been up here talking for a couple hours and you have some very lonely men who need a little of your attention."

"Well my apologies cowboy," Emily said moving into Jasper's arms. "I guess we lost track of time."

Kissing Emily's head the vampire turned his attention to his 'twin'. "Sorry, but we have to get this one home before the Chief decides to test out the bulletproof theory."

Rolling her eyes Rosalie stood and hit her brother's head being careful to avoid Emily who was still in his embrace. "I think you almost hope he tries."

"Please, Dad would never threaten you with bullets he'd go straight for fire."

"Then we better hurry," Jasper chuckled picking up Emily and running down the stairs causing the witch to squeal a bit before laughing too.

"Bye Rose!" Emily called knowing the vampire could easily hear her as she was carried to the car where Edward was already waiting for the pair.

Opening the door to her home Emily could hear laughter coming from the kitchen. Titling her head to the side Emily made her way toward the noise followed closely by Jasper and Edward.

"Siri?" Emily asked peering around the door. The witch almost couldn't believe her eyes as she took in the sight of her dogfather sitting at the kitchen table with her father.

"Hey Pup," the dark haired man said with a smile. As he stood to greet her Emily noticed he was still in his robes meaning he probably hadn't gotten here that long ago.

Getting over her shock Emily moved quickly into her godfather's arms happy he appeared well and uninjured. "What are you doing here?"

"I was told you needed a training partner." Sirius pulled back, keeping his hands on Emily's shoulders he nodded his head back to where Charlie was sitting, "Plus I wanted to see how this old guy was holding up."

"Hey! We're the same age!"

"Are we?" Sirius asked moving towards his old friend. "I think you have a few greys…"

"If I do I'm blaming her," Charlie quipped back winking at his daughter.

Emily put a hand to her chest attempting to appear appropriately outraged, "I'll have you know I'm the good daughter, you can only blame me for the pink ones!"

Rolling his eyes Charlie leaned back in his chair, "I don't know about that… can we expect any more power surges tonight?"

Emily blushed lightly and leaned into Edward's chest, who was stood behind her. She had been having such a great time talking to Rosalie and getting to know her that she had forgotten to go outside and cast a few spells safely in the wards.

"Power surges?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow as he looked between his old friend and Emily before settling on the two men he didn't know.

"Strangest thing Pads, I woke up this morning and all my clocks needed to be reset."

"I see, and who might the vampires be?" Sirius asked pointing to the two vampires with golden eyes standing behind Emily.

Rolling her eyes Emily straightened herself up and turned to point to the men behind her, "Siri this is Edward Cullen and Jasper Whitlock. Guys this is my Godfather and Uncle, Lord Sirius Black Head of the Noble house of Black, magical guardian of House Potter and so on and so forth"

As Emily introduced him with his long title Sirius made to dust off his robes and straighten himself, doing his best to impersonate the pompous Pure Bloods he had grown up around.

"It's nice to meet you sir," Jasper said stepping forward to shake the wizard's hand first.

"It's a pleasure sir," Edward added taking his turn to shake hands.

Sirius nodded his head in return, "You boys as well." Moving back to Charlie's side, Sirius gave his old friend a questioning look. He was answered with a shrug leaving the animagus to wonder just what the two vampires meant to his goddaughter.

Forcing a cough Emily tried to get her uncle's attention. "Siri, why are you really here? Is everything okay back home?"

Instantly Emily noticed the light slightly dim in Sirius' grey eyes at the reminder of what he had just left back in England. "Everything is going as well as we could expect." Looking down Sirius grabbed Charlie's shoulder and gave a squeeze before moving to point Emily out the back door of the house, "Perhaps we can do something about those power surges."

Edward and Jasper moved to follow but Emily gave them a wink and gestured towards where her dad sat, "Why don't you two keep this old man company while we catch up."

Seeing the boys hesitate the witch offered the boys a smile, looking directly at Edward she focused on letting a single thought through her barriers. _I'll fill you in when we're done, I promise. Just help keep Dad occupied. You can watch through the window._

Seeing Edward's reluctant nod she noticed his lips moving very slightly likely communicating what she had told him to Jasper. When they moved to join Charlie, Emily allowed herself to be steered to the back door.

Sirius quickly had his wand out and began casting charms to conceal their activity from the prying eyes of muggles, she also noted his use of a silencing ward.

"Things in England have taken a turn," Sirius started sending a stinging jinx at Emily who quickly side stepped the spell. "I had only just gotten back to Grimmauld when the twins handed me a portkey and instructed me that I was to come help you train."

Nodding Emily sent off a quick impedimenta before dodging her godfather's next jinx. "So I take it your mission was at least slightly successful since you appear in good health or are you hiding behind a glamour?"

"I'll have you know I've never needed a glamour to look this good," the man responded running a hand through his hair as he sent a cutting curse towards his goddaughter. "As for my mission it went as well as can be expected. No one is really ready to help yet, they don't see this coming to their borders."

"That's what everyone thought about Grindelwald and look at what happened then…" Emily shot off another spell before spinning to avoid the flame that shot past her head.

"Yes but unfortunately as long as _he_ keeps his efforts focused in Britain we are going to find it hard to receive outside help."

Sighing Emily shot off a bone breaker curse. "What about Remus? How is his work with the clans going?"

"Not well, many don't want to go against Fenrir's wishes. He had a lot of influence whether we like it or not and the things he was promising the werewolves through the Dark Lord are far more tempting then anything we could offer."

"But he's dead. I killed him!"

"I know and we had hoped that it would give us an edge but his memory is strong and many seem upset over his death."

"So none of them are willing to help?" Emily did a little flip to avoid Sirius' next spell, smiling as her dogfather scoffed at her effort.

"Show off!" Sirius called levitating a broken branch to avoid getting hit with Emily's next spell. It instantly burst into pieces. "Bullocks I didn't think that one through," Sirius coughed as he cast a spell to help dispel some of the debris.

"Wood is a terrible shield old man!" Emily laughed moving to help dust off her uncle. "So no one will help us, it's just the order against a Dark army."

Running a hand though his hair Sirius looked Emily in the eyes, "It's not good odds I'll admit but it's what we have to work with right now. Plus it seems you've gained the favor of a few vampires."

Laughing as Sirius waggled his eyebrows Emily looked back to the window where she could see Edward and Jasper standing with her father. "I haven't really told them everything that's going on to be honest."

"Well from what I know you don't have much time left to fill them in." Sirius looked at his goddaughter and shook his head. "Em, I know you came back to see your Dad but you can't stay here much longer. The situation is close to breaking, you need to be back in London before the Ministry falls."

"I know, just this wasn't what I had planned. Bill and I were supposed to come to Forks and train away from prying eyes. I would see Dad, he would know I was happy and then we would go back for my 'seventh' year and end this…"

"You will end this Pup. You are going to win!" Sirius said turning Emily to look at him. "If everything went as planned your Mum and Dad would be here with us right now simply enjoying the summer visiting your Uncle Charlie while Moony and I caused havoc."

Emily raised a skeptical eyebrow at her uncle.

"You think Moony is all about books but I tell you his smarts make him the most devious of all!" Sirius proclaimed pointing a finger in the air getting a small smile from the witch.

"The point is Pup, nothing in the last 16 years has gone exactly to plan and it will likely continue to spiral out of control. For now we do our best, prepare for everything we possibly can so that at the end of this you are the one still standing."

Clapping his hands together Sirius shot his goddaughter a devious smile. "Now a little blonde birdy told me that you are quite accomplished with some fire spells…"

"Uh huh you mean like this," Emily teased holding out her wand. With a small swish a snake made of flames appeared.

"Woah," Edward said stepping back slightly at the sight of the flames. Nodding Jasper watched as the snake seemed to slither through the air controlled by his mate.

"That's pretty powerful magic," Charlie whispered rubbing his chin. As he watched his daughter duel with one of his oldest friend's he felt a mix of envy and pride. He couldn't keep track of how many times he had imagined being able to duel with Emily, helping her train and grow stronger.

Watching how she danced around the spells Sirius threw at her he could only be proud of how strong she was. She was amazing to watch and it hurt him to know that she would soon vanish from his sight without a guarantee of returning.

The two probably thought they were protecting him by going outside to speak but Charlie was well aware of the dangers his daughter was certain to face. He just wished like his old friends he could be by her side facing them too, protecting her from harm.

Looking over at the two vampires who were stood in the kitchen with him the Police Chief observed how they watched his daughter. He saw them intake unnecessary breaths when a spell came too close to her, how they tensed, seemingly having to hold themselves back from running outside to protect her even though they most likely understood she was in no real danger. It was easy to tell both of the men had fallen for his magical daughter.

"I need you boys to promise me something," the Chief spoke in his usual gruff tone. Both men quickly turned their heads curiously to the only human in the room, neither spoke both waiting for Charlie to continue which he appreciated.

"Emily will be leaving soon and while I may not like it, I am in no position to go with her," looking back out at the yard his daughter and Sirius were now laughing hysterically as they conjured random objects to throw at one another. He wished he could keep that smile on her face forever. "She needs help, whatever she is planning it won't be easy." Looking back to the vampires Charlie swallowed back his pain at the thought of what was to come, terrible images flashed before his eyes at the possibilities. "I need you to promise me you'll go with her, that you will protect her when I can't."

"We promise," Edward said without hesitating looking Charlie straight in the eyes.

"With everything we have," Jasper added with a nod.

"Good," Charlie said reaching forward to pat the men on the shoulder. With one last look out the window Charlie quickly left the room leaving the two slightly confused vampires to continue to watch the pair in the backyard.

Jasper and Edward stood by the unlit fireplace in the living room. When Emily had come back in from her duel with her godfather she had set off to get changed and find her father. Deciding to give her a moment they chose to wait downstairs.

Sirius leaned against the doorframe and observed the vampires standing still. He supposed after living centuries the silence would be a welcome occurrence or perhaps something one experienced far too often.

All Sirius had known was fighting really, war had surrounded his life and having worked as an Auror for most of it his next day was never guaranteed. He always fought his hardest knowing he wanted to be there for Emily but the day he found James and Lily was the day the reality of how short life, particularly his, could end up being set in.

It had been hard for him to not go chasing after the rat that night but he knew he had a responsibility to his friends and most importantly to his goddaughter. It had taken Charlie a few days to get to England, the men didn't want to draw attention to what they were up to. People were clamoring to know where the Girl-Who-Lived was and the last thing they wanted to do was let people know a Squib would be caring for her. The magical community would have been up in arms, most likely even trying to step in to take her away.

As the years passed Sirius had to limit his visits, never wanting to draw attention to where he was going. He had been so excited when Emily had begun at Hogwarts, it had meant seeing her more frequently. Though the joy at her being around and beginning her education didn't last long. Worry quickly set in as it became more apparent that she had a knack for finding herself in dangerous situations.

Sirius was grateful Emily had truly gotten time to be a child, growing up happily in Forks but it seemed like she had been cheated of a true childhood always having to be cautious, always having the burden of knowing what and who she was to be.

Now she was approaching her seventeenth birthday and she was about to lead a war. Shaking his head he hoped these vampires were up for the task of protecting his sweet little Pup.

Pointing his wand at the fireplace it ignited and both vampires turned to look at the man curiously.

"So you boys planning anything special for Emily's birthday?" Sirius asked crossing to sit in Charlie's favorite chair. He watched as the two men looked at each other with sudden realization. He wondered if Emily had even mentioned to them when her birthday was, she never was one to draw attention to herself. It was what made her more successful at pranking and kept her out of detentions unlike the marauders before her.

The tall copper headed vampire shook his head, "No, she mentioned briefly that her birthday was at the end of July but we haven't really planned anything yet."

Chuckling at their obvious discomfort Sirius shrugged, "You have a couple weeks to plan, but with the current _climate_ you may want to celebrate a little earlier…"

Both men looked like they wanted to ask him something but neither seemed really sure what to say. Sighing Sirius knew Emily was going to have to open up more to the men if she planned for them to go with her, she didn't have much time left. "Why don't you two go find Emily and let her know her illustrious Godfather is starving and if she doesn't want a mess in her kitchen she best hurry up. I'm rather useless without Kreacher."

Dinner had been an interesting affair. Bella had shown up shortly after the boys had gone to fetch Emily. The vampires had decided to hide in Emily's bedroom rather than fake eating food to try and fool a girl who already knew their secret into believing the others didn't know about their 'condition'. The single human had seemed a bit drunk and glared at Emily the entire evening looking skeptically at her father's friend who was dressed in an old fashion way.

Emily practically ran up the stairs to her room when her father finally excused her. She found her mates sitting on the bed reading various tomes she had brought with her. "Reading anything interesting?"

"Did you know there are creatures that can suck out your soul?" Jasper asked perplexed by the book before him. "They call it a kiss…"

"A kiss? Doesn't sound very pleasant, a kiss in exchange for your soul."

"It kind of reminds me of the medieval Succubus lore, sex for your life…"

Shivering slightly as thoughts of the darkly cloaked creatures invaded her mind, Emily crawled up onto her bed and slid under the duvet to keep warm. "A Dementor's kiss is far worse, I'm rather familiar with the creature."

"Really?" Edward said turning to look at the witch. "Do you think it would affect us?"

"Of course it would, every living being and creature has a soul. The husk a person or creature is reduced to without it…" shaking her head Emily closed her eyes trying to force out the reoccurring green light that always seemed to flash through her mind in the presence of the dark creatures.

"Are you okay Darlin'?" Jasper quickly moved up the bed towards his mate discarding the book he had been reading on the floor. "I'm sorry, I didn't think before speaking."

"It's normal for you to be curious," Emily responded grabbing Jasper's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Don't apologize for wanting to know more about my world."

"You fought well today," Jasper said with a crooked smile trying to change the topic. "It was fascinating to watch."

"I told you my fighting was far different from yours."

"True, but today was the first time I really got to see and understand it." Leaning forward Jasper lightly kissed Emily's lips, "You were beautiful."

Laughing Emily playfully shoved the vampire, "I was a mess and not at all beautiful but thank you."

"Does your magic feel better?" Edward inquired setting down his own book and moving to join the other two.

"A bit, using some of the darker curses helped but this was part of my everyday routine back home." Ever since her name had come from the goblet her fourth year she had taken to having daily training lessons. Whether it was with Remus, Bill, Sirius or even sometimes just simply against Draco she had someone to duel against and practice her magic with every day.

"I thought you said you didn't duel much in school?" Edward asked.

"Well in classes we don't, the teachers we've had for defense haven't always been the greatest. With Severus teaching this last year it was better but there was only so much he could really do with so many people being behind. Dray joins me sometimes in the evenings for my training sessions but dueling is mainly something only I do regularly."

A tap at the window drew Emily's attention. Looking over she smiled at the sight of her owl. Flicking her wrist the window opened allowing the bird to swoop into the room and land on her lap. Leaning down she lightly nuzzled the bird's head having missed the creature while he was away.

"Looks like you were careful you brilliant bird." Getting a nip on her fingers Emily smiled at her oldest friend. "Did you bring me a note from Draco?"

Bobbing his head Apollo released the parchment in his talons and took off to his stand to drink some water. Opening the parchment Emily wanted to roll her eyes at the uselessness of it all but she knew what was at stake, until she returned to London they had to make the Dark Lord believe these letters were their only form of contact.

 _Em,_

 _I shall forgive you for your hesitation in sending your regards but I will not forgive you for not sending treats. How many boxes of care packages have we shared over the years surely you could have sent me a tin of Sugared Butterfly Wings or a Chocolate Frog…_

 _But alas I'm sure I'll survive until you realize your folly and send some back!_

 _In other news I have been, as per your wishes, stuck with Severus as a caregiver. My attempts at escape from his 'gentle' care have all been thwarted._

 _Honestly though I have to be grateful to the Dark Lord. He has been incredibly kind and has sought to give me every comfort and help as I recover. I know you are still likely upset over how this year ended but you would be surprised by the wonders and achievements we are beginning to make in our world. This despite being hurt for my beliefs (we believe it was the Order that attacked me) is the winning side._

 _I miss my best friend. You would only find welcome and glory here._

 _Always,_

 _Dray_

 _P.S. I promise Apollo is untouched. He stayed by my bed during his entire stay and was well fed before returning to your side._

 _P.P.S I'm awaiting my Butterfly Wings._

"Sugared butterfly wings?" Edward said leaning back from reading the letter over Emily's shoulder.

Laughing Emily shook her head as she folded up the letter and reached to tuck it in her notebook. "They're Draco's favorite candy. I've been addicted to them as well since first year. They are dark chocolate covered butterfly wings and they last for something like 800 years."

"That's a rather long time."

"True, but a tin only lasts a week at best in my house."

"Is a lot of the food different in your world?" Jasper asked looking away from where Emily had placed the note.

"To an extent, most of our drinks and treats are vastly different than the muggle world but main courses like chicken for example are the same. Of course there's always delicacies that you could never find in the muggle world."

"Like…" Edward prompted.

"Like dragon balls." Both men made faces at the thought which had Emily laughing as she leaned back against her headboard. "What it doesn't sound appetizing to you?"

Shaking their heads the vampires looked disgusted at the thought of trying the food. "Normal food is revolting but that," Edward paused shaking his head slightly, "sounds even worse."

"I'm kidding… well only slightly. Dragon tartare is made from dragon meat and it tastes terrible so it's a standing joke that it's made from dragon balls."

"Still don't think I would like to try it," Edward said leaning back next to Emily with another shiver.

"Yes well when all food tastes like dirt I would expect not. Though I can't imagine animal blood would be all that better."

Shrugging Jasper joined the other two and made himself more comfortable leaning against the bed. "It's enough that I can at least stomach it."

"But in comparison human blood must be better for you, in both taste and the strength it gives you."

"Yes, but that's not the way we choose to live Darlin'."

"But if you had to, would you drink from humans again?" Both vampires quickly looked down at their mate. "I mean you have both drank from humans at least once before, correct?"

"I rebelled against Carlisle early into my existence…" Edward hesitated unsure of where Emily was leading with this. "For about four years I preyed on murderers and rapists but I returned to Carlisle, I didn't want to be a monster."

"Drinking human blood doesn't make you a monster, it makes you a vampire." Emily countered.

"Darlin' where are you going with this?"

"I'm just curious if either of you would be willing to drink human blood again if the situation called for it."

"Is there a situation that calls for it?"

"Perhaps," Emily answered vaguely sinking herself down deeper into her bed. "Why don't you two think on it, I'm rather tired."

"Of course, sleep well love," Edward said leaning down to give his mate a kiss. Jasper quickly followed suit and as the witch fell asleep the vampires were left staring at each other slightly confused. Where had Emily's question come from and could either of them in good conscience give up their current lifestyle and return to human blood…


	9. Chapter 9

Jasper sat staring at the book in his hand. He had slowly been working his way through several of the books in Emily's collection on magic but today he was struggling to get through a single page. A few days had passed since Emily had brought up the topic of their choice of diet. Though the subject had not been broached since, it was still all Jasper and Edward could really think about.

Edward had decided he was in need of a hunt and had taken off a short while ago leaving Jasper alone in Emily's room with only his own emotions. The more he focused on them the more distracted he became. He was extremely conflicted, could he go back to drinking from humans? Is that what Emily wanted from him? Did she view him as less of a man because he chose to hunt animals? Could he remain Jasper and not give in to the monster he had once been?

The vampire was startled from his thoughts by the sounds of the backdoor closing from below him. Glancing down at the page he had been attempting to read for the past hour Jasper closed the book and listened as Emily made her way upstairs towards him.

The witch had spent most of her time since her Godfather's arrival practicing and dueling the wizard. They had set up an area in the woods as to not be noticed by the muggles, especially Bella who had become increasingly nosey. She had tried and failed to enter Emily's room several times now, this very morning she even attempted to sneak out and follow Emily and Sirius to their training area. She hadn't made it very far before she had been caught by Charlie who intended to watch a little of the duel himself before going to work. After a large argument between the two Bella had quickly taken off in her beat up old truck, likely to visit the reservation.

Jasper felt sorry for the Chief, he could feel the man's worry for his human daughter but also his relief and guilt whenever she would vanish. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to have to lead two separate lives within your own home. While the man likely missed his human daughter over the years Jasper couldn't help but think it was best she had lived with her mother for all of that time, if Charlie had to live as he was now for too long he would have likely gone insane.

"No Edward?" Emily asked shutting the door to her room drawing the vampire's attention. Her emotions were exhausted but amused and Jasper couldn't help but wonder what Sirius had said this time, the man he was learning was hilariously crude, Emmett and him would get along quite well.

"Hunting," Jasper offered as he took in his mate's disheveled and sweaty appearance, he felt himself twitch at the sight. "Good duel?"

"Very," she smiled turning to walk towards the bathroom. Removing her shirt she tossed it into the hamper by the door. "I really need a shower…"

Before she could finish her thought Jasper was across the room pressing the witch up against the door frame. Kissing down her neck he inhaled her intoxicating scent. "Let me help you," he growled feeling Emily's lust spike at his words.

Lifting her up the vampire quickly freed her of her remaining clothes while Emily did the same for him with a wave of her hand. The witch quickly found herself pressed against the shower wall as hot water rained down on the pair. Emily pushed her hips harder against Jasper's and the vampire couldn't contain the low growl in the back of his throat. The two hadn't been alone in days and he was craving her.

It didn't take either of them long to succumb to the pleasures of the other. Gathering himself, Jasper helped Emily actually get cleaned up from her earlier duel before carrying her wrapped in a towel back to her bed.

Nipping at her shoulder as he placed her down Jasper earned a laugh from the witch.

"Was the shower not enough?" Emily pouted.

Leaning over her Jasper smirked, "I'll never get enough…"

Capturing her lips the vampire felt her desire for him increase again. He felt her fingers wrap into his hair and pull him down on top of her before an annoying light filled the room distracting the pair.

Sighing Emily looked over at the notebook that was now glowing on her nightstand.

"Ignore it," Jasper instructed turning her head back to his.

Emily pulled back shaking her head, "What if it's important?"

"I'm sure it can wait."

"It's Dray, something could be wrong. I really should answer it."

Pushing herself to sit up, Emily smiled at her mate's annoyed look and offered him a kiss as she moved to reach for the notebook.

He obviously wasn't satisfied and moved slightly behind her, pulling her body back against his own he restricted her ability to reach for the item and began nibbling his way down her neck. Sighing Emily leaned back into the man, "Jazz please, I need…"

He bit her a little harder and Emily could almost feel her resolve break. Looking back at the vampire she shook her head, "Just a few minutes and then I promise we can continue."

He gave her a puppy dog face and Emily could feel him sending her waves of lust. Grabbing his leg she tried to get a hold of her emotions "You are not playing fair Cowboy…"

Jasper chuckled into her neck and Emily was just about to give in when the light began to glow red. Summoning the book to her she couldn't stop the delightful shiver that ran down her spine at Jasper's growl. Opening the book she resolved to make this quick, she had to agree with Jasper that after the last few days of not being able to be intimate she needed him again. They really were going to have to sort out some alone time more frequently so both vampires and Emily felt like they were getting proper attention.

 _Em… Hello…_

 _Would you just answer me already…_

 _WOMAN!_

Shaking her head she wondered what had her friend so impatient, it really hadn't taken her that long to pick up the notebook.

 _I'm here! What's going on?_

 _There you are, what took you so long?_

 _I just got out of the shower._ Which wasn't a total lie, she was still in her towel.

 _Uh huh…_

 _What? Would you have me shower with the book on the off chance you contact me?_

 _Not a terrible idea, my time is valuable you know._

 _I'm sorry oh blonde God of Time forgive me for making you wait a few seconds._

 _Forgiveness will be granted when I receive an offering of Sugared Butterfly Wings._

Rolling her eyes Emily leaned back into Jasper who was currently trailing his nose up and down her throat. _Is something wrong Dray?_

 _No more so than before._

 _Then why the red light? I'm a touch busy at the moment._ Jasper took that moment to suck lightly at the skin just below her ear causing Emily's eyes to briefly shut before gaining her senses and lightly hitting the vampire's head.

 _I thought you just got out of the shower?_

 _I did._

 _Uh huh, and who was in that shower with you?_

 _Oh come off it, I have things I need to get done today._

 _I'm sure you do… tell your vamp he can be patient for a few minutes._

 _I'm beginning to rethink_ _my_ _patience…_ Jasper chuckled obviously reading what Emily was writing as he pulled her back more tightly against his chest resting his head against hers. She felt his hand rub along her thigh…

 _Merlin's beard I don't have much time can you focus… Em?! Hello?_

 _I am!_ Well kind of, she offered silently in her head. _What do you want?_

 _The Dark Lord is getting bolder in his attacks, he has decided to make his move on your birthday. He is far too impatient to wait for me to reestablish a firmer relationship with you through letters before acting._

Well that sobered Emily up. Jasper must have felt her moods shift because his hand moved from her thigh to her hair and she felt waves of comfort come from him. _But Sirius just got here a few days ago. That doesn't give us much time to prepare_

 _I know, I'm not sure what happened but he called a meeting of his inner circle and informed us to be prepared to move forward quickly. He told me I am welcome to continue our correspondence but that he is sure you will be with us soon._

 _Does he know where I am?_

 _I do not see how he could, but…_

Draco's handwriting stopped and after a minute Emily glared at the book as she continued to receive no response. _Dray?_

Rolling her eyes Emily wondered if her best friend was trying to pay her back for her earlier hesitation in answering him.

…

 _Sorry, I have to run. I'll be in touch soon, hopefully with more information. But I think it's time you start planning your return and quickly._

 _I'll do my best but Dray be careful, try to find out what's shifted his mood but don't show your hand._

 _I won't, you worry too much. Now I really have to go he's calling. If I'm not in touch soon Mum will be. Think about where you want to meet up. Focus on training and remind Snuffles not to cause too much chaos._

 _Will do, be safe Dray._

 _I try._

 _Love you._

 _Of course you do!_

With that the writing began to once again fade from view and Emily knew Draco had ended their conversation. Tossing the now empty book back on her nightstand Emily sighed, what could make the Dark Lord so confident that he was willing to shorten his timeline? Emily knew her return to London was coming but she had hoped to put it off until after her birthday.

Jasper continued to run his fingers through Emily's hair, "Darlin' whatever this means we'll do it." Kissing the side of Emily's head he used his hand to lift her face to look up at him. "Edward and I are here to help you, you aren't in this alone. If we need to start planning our departure from Forks then so be it."

"And what about your family?"

"What about yours?" Jasper countered. "They'll still be here when we're all done."

"You have no idea what you are getting into."

"Then perhaps it's time you tell us everything, no more holding back," a new voice added. Emily looked to the door where Edward stood, his shirt had a few drops of blood on it but he was relatively still well put together despite having just hunted.

Looking from Edward back to Jasper who was still holding her tightly against him she nodded her head in agreement, it was time to be completely honest with her mates.

After Emily and Jasper were dressed the three settled down on the bed as the witch finally began to tell the boys about her life back in England since the Dark Lord's rebirth. She found it more difficult than she expected recalling everything that had happened in just two short years. She explained how she had been forced into battling at the ministry of magic to prevent Tom from getting the prophecy, how she had at the last minute saved Sirius from falling through the Veil when he was dodging a curse sent by his own cousin and how she had watched Lucius be arrested, not allowed to speak up and save him so that he could maintain his cover as a spy.

She recalled the night when they decided Draco would take his father's place as a Death Eater, the pain it had caused them both and how they had aided each other in their goals quietly while the whole of the wizarding world thought they had fallen out. Her only reprieve had been William in a place where she was already feared by the school and outcast by her own House for standing against the Dark Lord.

She spoke of her meetings with Dumbledore, of the man's mistakes and the planning of his own death. The countless nights spent preparing with Bill by the fire, of their plans to return to Forks before finally setting off on their true goal, to hunt down the remaining horcruxes and end the Dark Lord for good.

She remembered the night her and Dumbledore had ventured to the cave. She had no choice but to force the mysterious liquid down the old professor's throat, nearing him to insanity as he called out for people she never knew with each drink all for a fake locket.

She told them in more detail about the battle they had faced that evening upon returning to the school. Of course it hadn't been the ambush the Death Eaters suspected but it had been devastating to her none the less. Everything had gone perfectly Draco and Severus played their parts brilliantly and Dumbledore had finally been put out of his suffering due to his folly over a horcrux earlier that year. She had been forced to wait to join in the battle that night as to not draw too much suspicion on her earlier location. As she had joined it seemed that the Death Eaters were fighting simply to escape not kill until Greyback attacked William. He had smirked at her as he took off but she had chased him down, the werewolf would never be able to hurt anyone again.

Dumbledore's funeral had been held quickly and the man was buried on the grounds of Hogwarts, the place he had loved most, all of his life. William had been buried the next day at Emily's family plot. It had taken quite the argument but with Charlie and the twins on her side it was agreed the man would be buried with the honors of a Lord of the Ancient House of Potter.

"So these horcruxes are pieces of his soul?" Edward looked disgusted and Emily bet if he could have the vampire most likely would be in the bathroom throwing up his recent meal.

"I know, it was hard for me to comprehend at first too," Emily said shivering as she remembered all the research her and William had done on the dark piece of magic, it wasn't often she was revolted by what magic could accomplish but this was just too high of a price to ask. To mess with one's soul… no that was magic she would never willing choose to use.

"So we need to hunt down the rest of these soul fragments?" Jasper asked looking at the witch. Emily knew part of him, even if he wasn't ready to acknowledge it yet, was itching for a fight. "Where do we start?"

"To start I need to find Sirius and talk to him before Dad or Bella get back." Jumping off the bed Emily moved to the door and ran down the stairs to find her dogfather with a bowl of chips, snacking at the kitchen table. She was quickly followed by the two vampires who for all their enhanced sense were still trying to process everything thing they had been told.

"Hey Pup, what are you three up to?"

Sitting down Emily reached across the table and helped herself to Sirius' chips. "Not too much…" Emily answered as she popped a chip in her mouth.

"Is he okay?" Sirius asked pointing to Edward as he seated himself next to Emily. Looking at the vampire Emily would say the man almost looked paler than usual and still appeared as if he was about to be sick. She knew Edward struggled with his own thoughts on the soul and she expected with all this new information he wasn't likely to be okay for a while. She would need to find a moment to really speak with him about it more soon.

Jasper on the other hand looked stoic as he leaned against the counter that gave him a vantage point of all the doors and windows. Emily smirked at the old soldier's behavior, it wasn't like the Dark Lord was about to appear in the backyard. The witch was rather confident her location was still very much a secret or at least she hoped so.

Looking back to her godfather Emily patted Edward's leg and smiled, "He'll be fine but I wanted to talk to you before Dad got home."

Raising an eyebrow the older animagus leaned forward, "Oh, are we planning on pranking your old man? Because you know I have been thinking about it myself and I think if we work together we may just be able to pull something off. He's become terribly vigilant in his old age, not like when we were young… oh the pranks Prongs and I were able to pull on him and Moony!"

Smiling Emily shook her head at Sirius, oh she had heard of the many prank wars her father and his friends had participated in over the summers when they were together but for the moment pranking was not what she needed to focus on. "I'm well aware of your _epic_ pranks Siri, I'm pretty sure Dad is still mad about you ruining his chances with that French model but I actually needed to talk to you about something else."

"Oh I don't know why he still holds on to that one, he never had a chance with her anyway! Plus I wasn't the one who slipped the mouse potion into his drink, that time it was actually Moony!"

"Mouse potion?" Edward asked looking slightly less sick as he watched the two magicals converse.

"It's a potion that makes the drinker squeak every time they speak for about an hour," Sirius explained leaning back in his chair. "Don't think I've ever seen a girl quite so confused before, Charlie kept trying to ask her out and all that came out of his mouth were these high pitched squeaks. Best part was Remus spiked the drink after Charlie had already been talking to the bird for a few minutes!"

"And she finally took offense when he refused to even attempt opening his mouth again and stormed off," Emily finished reaching out to grab a few more chips.

"I tell you, Moony is the real one to watch out for!" Sirius joked before sitting up and pulling the chip bowl closer to himself. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

"I just heard from Draco."

"Is that so?" Sirius asked as he tossed a chip up in the air and caught it in his mouth. "How's old Moldy shorts doing?"

"He's moving up his timeline."

Emily's words got her godfather's attention who quickly sat up straight at the news. "Does Draco know why?"

Shaking her head Emily summoned a Diet Coke from the fridge, "No, but he said the Dark Lord was confident that I would be with them soon. He plans to make his move on my birthday."

"The day you reach your majority," Sirius nodded as he took in the new information. "We need to start planning your return, you need to be in London before the Ministry falls. Do you think he knows where you are?"

"I doubt it, I came here by plane and the only people who know I'm here I can count on one hand. Even the twins don't know where I am."

"Draco and Cissy are certain their minds haven't been compromised?"

"I think they would tell me if they suspected they had given something away." Emily knew it was dangerous that half of the people who knew where she was currently 'hiding' were in the service of the Dark Lord for the moment, but it couldn't be helped.

"And Severus?"

"I haven't heard much about him, but he was very clear on not knowing where exactly I spent my summers even when I was younger. He avoided learning too many details just in case. The Dark Lord often called on him to review memories of his time with Albus and there are only so many subtle ways he can alter a memory without being caught by someone as skilled as Tom."

Nodding Sirius crossed his arm and leaned back in his chair. He looked out the window into the forest behind the house seemingly deep in thought before looking back at the witch. "What about the Tribe?"

Emily gave her godfather a curious look, "What about them?"

"Your Dad told me that you seemed concerned by their knowledge of you."

"They know far more than I expected, they somehow learned about Greyback."

"Hmm…" Sirius looked back out the window before putting his hands on the table and standing up. "I'll think on it a bit. No matter the cause for Moldy's impatience we need to find a way to get you back to London safely."

As the man started to walk towards the front room Emily called out to him, "Hey Siri! Do you know why Kreature has kept Regulus' room locked up?"

Sirius gave his goddaughter a quizzical look as he answered her, "I think he likes to hide things from the Order there. Molly went on a bit of a cleaning spree when we started using the house as headquarters and he was angry at her for trying to throw away some of our family trinkets."

Emily shrugged she wasn't the Weasley matriarch's biggest fan, the woman had done everything she could to split her and William up since learning of their relationship. She remembered her going as far as to try and push Fleur into his path several times. She couldn't really blame Kreature for wanting to hide things from the crazy witch.

"Anything else I can help with?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow at Emily.

Shaking her head Emily leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her soda, "Nope, I was just curious."

"Mmhmm… well that has to be your old man," Sirius said tilting his head to the side. Being a dog animagus some of the better traits, like improved hearing, carried over to when the man was still in his human form.

"I guess that is my cue to start dinner," Emily announced standing from her spot at the table. "Any requests?"

"Lasagna sounds good to me!"

Laughing Emily began to summon the ingredients but quietly went over the information she had gotten from her godfather, she finally thought she knew where the next horcrux was hidden.


End file.
